Homunculus
by Hikaru No Ribbon
Summary: A Speedster now found reasons to defend the Homunculus. WARNING: OC PAIRING UP WITH TOMMY. REMADE.
1. Chapter 1: Running Away

**Homunculus**

**Rating****: T**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Marvel, The Young Avengers, The Avengers or anything that are made from Marvel. I only own my OC, Maxell Joachim.**

**WARNING****: As far as I know, OCs is NOT what many people would like to have in a fanfic. So please, if you do NOT like OCs being the main attention, either you wait until I made another chapter that involves the rest of The Young Avengers or don't read it at all. You have been warned. Also, boy x boy, OC pairing with Marvel character, swearing, etc. etc.**

**Author's Note****: I'm discontinuing Dancing at Street Lights to do a fanfic based on pairing my OC, Maxell Joachim the Homunculus, with Tommy the Speed. ****UPDATE: PLUS, in addition, prior to the update of the story, only the beginning was altered to make it more sense. Also to fix some grammar issues in the story.**

**Maxell Joachim is my OC that was inspired by BlazBlue's Nu-13, Rachel Alucard, Ragnarok's Sage job, and ALSO THE Joachim from Castlevania as well, thus the family name from him and his hometown to be Transylvania to fit in.**

**Although despite having the same name as the original Joachim Armster, making 'Joachim' my OC's last name, I'm not making my OC affiliated with him, saying that Maxell is Joachim's son or anything of the particular.**

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><p><strong>OC Status<strong>

**Maxell Joachim  
>-hasn't gotten an alias as of yet-<br>Has no relation outside his family. Mother died of an accident when Maxell was just a year old. Father died when Maxell was exactly 17 years old because of a failed experiment attempt to make Maxell a human weapon that took his life.  
>-not affiliated with anyone-<strong>

**Male**  
><strong>Age 19 (appearance of 17 due to the frozen aging state)<strong>  
><strong>Short messy undercut brown hair with a line highlight of deep purple, completely black eyes (originally deep purple), slender but quite masculine and rather short<strong>  
><strong>Once human, now Homunculus<strong>  
><strong>Transylvania (the fact that he CAN levitate with the Grimoire's help)<strong>

**Manipulation of conjuring weapons of his desire with his Grimoire, regardless of said weapon to be real or fiction (often seen using Laevateinn, a norse Sword wielded by Surt. He tends to conjure more than one Laevateinn and makes them appear out of nowhere. But he can cast only one at a time, and not simultaneously, unless if he lifted his Homunculi Atom Limiter)**

**Also has the ability to jump incredibly high and float down or any directions with help of Grimoire (provided that there is wind guiding him to wherever it takes him. In this case, the wind blew towards New York when he floats away from Transylvania)**

**His stamina is rather intense; he can still live without food for at least 2 years and counting, he is able to run without the need of catching his breath, despite running at a speed of a normal human being. However, he is still fragile and weak and he gets injured faster than before and still unable to handle excess power from conjuring too much weapons at his disposal because he is not a full-fledged Homunculus.**

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><p><strong>Power Grid<strong>_**(please refer to the Marvel wikia for more information)**_

**Intelligence: Gifted (since he is indeed a bookworm and managed to learn more about other weapons by reading** _**only**_** books, he uses this as an advantage to increase his weapon arsenal)  
><strong>**Strength: Normal  
><strong>**Speed: Normal (he may able to run without the need of catching his breath, but he is not as fast as Quicksilver or even Speed for that matter)  
><strong>**Durability: Weak (because he is not a full-fledged Homunculus, he is incredibly weak)  
><strong>**Energy Projection: Long range, long duration, single energy type  
><strong>**Fighting Ability: Experienced fighter (since he is a Homunculus, his combat abilities has been enhanced. Later in the story, he learned how to lift his Homunculi Atom Limiter)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Running Away<strong>

* * *

><p>The boy ran as fast as he can, without taking a break from running. But where is he running from, he doesn't know. As far as he is concerned, he still never stopped running like there is a 247 marathon at 7:30pm _in New York_. He never turned back and continued onwards to whatever his senses bring him to. His mind blurred as he felt the sting of his headache, but he doesn't want to stop and pushed himself further until he bumped into the white blonde.

"Whoa, watch where ya going!"

"S-sorry," the younger boy replied. "I didn't see you in front of me." He had gotten himself up, patting himself off from the dust that surrounds his ragged clothes and picked up his large thick book that he dropped and ran off without a word. The platinum-blonde boy just shrugged to himself and went off.

The minute he entered the Stark Tower, the black American called him. "Well, you sure take long enough to buy the groceries, Tommy." He crossed his arms in annoyance that Tommy took more than an hour to come back to the tower with the groceries.

"Hey I wanted ta eat the marshmallows alon' the way," Tommy argued back, stuffing himself with marshmallows. "You could've at least went out and buy some extra groceries if ya so scared of being starved ta death, Eli."

"I'm not, alright?" Eli protested, defending himself. "Besides, we asked _you_ to buy it, no one else." Tommy just rolled his eyes and leaves the groceries in the kitchen. "Hey Kate, the groceries are here!" Tommy called her.

"I'll be there in a sec. Tell Billy to help me out, will you?" Kate replied from her room. She is probably busy doing something in her room. Tommy complied and went towards Billy's room. "Hey Billy, Kate was just askin' you to help 'er out with the cooking."

"Oh? Er-okay then. I'll get back to her later," replied Billy.

_To be honest, I wanted to tell how about this guy I've just met a few minutes ago. Gah, it'll wait… yeah, it can wait, alright. I mean, we just met and I'm already wanted to be interested with hi- whoa wait. Does this mean I'm gay or anything? But I still like Kate. But Kate's already with Eli. Urgh, this is getting confusing._

Tommy scratched his head in annoyance and confusion. Thoughts kept on coming into his mind, overheating his brain until he can't take it anymore. He ran out of the Stark Tower and combusted something that caught his eye; a small rock. Despite it being a small rock, its explosion is huge. Maybe he can recover from there. Sitting outside the tower alone, he wanted to forget how he fell in love in first sight in just mere minutes.

As the platinum-blonde came back into the tower, the others are already in their costume, rushing toward the scene of the crime. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Bank robbery, simple as that," the larger, taller blonde replied. "We'll go ahead; you just change into your costume and meet us up there. You're fast, anyway."

"But, what about Iron Man? Is he coming along?" Tommy asked.

"Well," Iron Man replied. "Knowing that, this isn't so major problem, I'm leaving that to you guys. At least you'll do some good for the public, no?" Kate grinned, trying to make a statement on his laziness. "Oh really, Tony? I thought you loved the public attention."

"Now, since when you got that idea, missy?" Iron Man laughed along with her. "I need to do some work anyway. And you guys can handle the problem well enough."

The Young Avengers nodded in agreement and teleported to the robbery after Tommy managed to change into his spandex costume.

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><p>The bank is already on fire, and the robbers have yet to leave the bank. The weather is windy but that doesn't dampen the morality of the Young Avengers. The fire keeps on getting bigger and bigger.<p>

"Billy, I need you to extinguish the fire!" Eli commanded. Billy nodded and wished for it to disappear.

_I want to extinguish the fire  
>I want to extinguish the fire<br>I want to extinguish the fire  
>I want to extinguish the fire<br>I want to-_

And Billy continued to chant as the fire became smaller and smaller, but not gone. Teddy, Cassie and Eli went into the burning building to save any remaining civilians. Kate and Tommy are already trying their best to capture the robbers.

Kate shot 2 arrows on the robbers' car wheels, disabling them to escape. Tommy then tried to chase the robbers when he was interrupted by a boy. "H-hey, move aside- , "he silently gasped as he saw someone familiar. It's that kid again. That kid is Maxell.

The robbers ran out of their car, trying to escape from them. "They're getting away!" Kate yelled at Tommy. Maxell murmured something, ignoring the shocking looks from both of the heroes. The grimoire that he was holding opened on its own, the pages flipped furiously, some of the pages got torn out of the large book. All of the sudden, a tranquilizer sniper rifle materialized from the book, making as if _it came out_ of the book itself.

"Whoa," both Kate and Tommy said in unison. Maxell gotten ready his sniper rifle, aimed at the first victim, who is still running away from them, with the money grasped on his hands. "Wait, don't kill him!" shouted Kate, but Maxell shot his target. A few seconds later, his first target fainted.

Now he's looking for his second target. He jumped high enough to see the whole street, floating half-way rather peacefully as he sniped from the sky. He found his second victim at the dark alley and shot him with the tranquilizer.

"Who is that guy?" asked Kate.

"I met him earlier a few hours ago," confessed Tommy. "But I didn't know he's a mutant."

As the younger boy landed safely after floating for too long, Tommy ran towards him, asking if he literally killed the two robbers. "No, I didn't," Maxell replied. "I just shot them with a tranquilizer so they'll be asleep." Tommy nodded and raced across the streets to pick them up. Kate went up to him with fascination; another young mutant with a huge potential to be a hero, but a dangerous one, just like Billy.

"You're a mutant, right?" she asked.

"A… mutant…?"

"Mutants are people who have super powers and all that."

"Am I considered… a mutant?"

"Well, conjurations of weapons out of thin air do sound like it."

Maxell thought about it throughout, but then all of the sudden, a huge sting hit his head as he furrowed his eyebrows in pain. He held on his forehead and kneeled in unconsciousness. Kate panicked as Maxell crawled on the floor. But as he reached Kate, he fainted into exhaustion.

Tommy came back with the sleeping robbers and saw Maxell lying on the ground unconscious. "Kate," he asked as he stared at Maxell's body, calm, but scared. "What happened to him?"

"He's just tired, I think," she replied as she carried Maxell. "We'll take him with us back to the Tower to get him analyzed. Let's meet the rest at the bank." Tommy just nodded and walked alongside Kate on the way back to the bank where the gang is at.

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><p><em>Too many shit happens too early and too much. I don't know if I am indeed dreaming, or I am just tripping like I'm sniffing glue or somethi- wait I don't take drugs. Well… even if I don't take it, I still don't feel comfortable at the moment. And I guess I now know how Billy feels; constant nightmares.<em>

_And I'm thinking too much either._

_Maxell._

_Are you okay…?_

_I guess it's hard to say…_

…_that I actually liked you the minute I met you._

_I wanna talk to you after you wake up from your goddamn sleep. But I guess you should rest now, after you've constantly been running away from something._

_I hope you didn't run away from me, if that's what you fucking think, you fucking brat. I just wanted to confess myself to you, that's all._

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><p><strong>End of Chapter 1: Running Away.<strong>

**Next time, on Homunculus; Chapter 2: Memoirs of a Fake Being.**

"_Well, I'll be. Maxell?" said Tony as he placed down his scientific instruments and saw the boy on Kate's arms. The gang was surprised. "Wait, you know his guy?" Tommy asked._

_(Next scene)_

"_I was designed to be a weapon; a weapon to destroy absolute evil," Maxell described his story as he remembered why he was 'created'._

"_I was copied and my soul transferred into this vessel," said Maxell, his eyes heavy and stared at the ground, digging deeper into his memories. "This is not even my real body. This is just a mere copy of my true self."_

"_Then where is your true self, then?" Billy asked. Tony was horrified the minute he realized something, something that he couldn't even forget._

"_It's in Transylvania."_

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><p><strong>Post AN: I haven't even had the time to do another one. And I also rewritten THE WHOLE OPENING, making him talk about himself in the second chapter.**

**At first, I was reading the original chapter 1 and it was… a bit ridiculous.**

**So I decided to rewrite it and make it more sensible (well damn I HOPE it is.) and hope you guys would try to understand.**

**Reviews are nice if you like reading this. This fanfiction may turn into series depending on the time I can have, plus how popular this would get. Until then!**


	2. Chapter 2: Memoirs of a Fake Being

**Homunculus**

**Rating****: T**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Marvel, The Young Avengers, The Avengers or anything that are made from Marvel. I only own my OC, Maxell Joachim.**

**WARNING****: As far as I know, OCs is NOT what many people would like to have in a fanfic. So please, if you do NOT like OCs being the main attention, either you wait until I made another chapter that involves the rest of The Young Avengers or don't read it at all. You have been warned. Also, boy x boy, OC pairing with Marvel character, swearing, etc. etc.**

**Author's Note****: I've been tumbling, and of course I have been bored. So here's your chapter 2.**

**Maxell Joachim is my OC that was inspired by BlazBlue's Nu-13, Rachel Alucard, Ragnarok's Sage job, and ALSO THE Joachim from Castlevania as well, thus the family name from him and his hometown to be Transylvania to fit in.**

**Although despite having the same name as the original Joachim Armster, making 'Joachim' my OC's last name, I'm not making my OC affiliated with him, saying that Maxell is Joachim's son or anything of the particular.**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously, on Homunculus…<strong>

"_Whoa, watch where ya going!"_

"_S-sorry," the younger boy replied. "I didn't see you in front of me." He had gotten himself up, patting himself off from the dust that surrounds his ragged clothes and picked up his large thick book that he dropped and ran off without a word._

_(next scene)_

_To be honest, I wanted to tell how about this guy I've just met a few minutes ago. _

_(next scene)_

"_Who is that guy?" asked Kate. _

"_I met him earlier a few hours ago," confessed Tommy._

_(next scene)_

"_You're a mutant, right?" she asked._

"_A… mutant…?"_

"_Mutants are people who have super powers and all that."_

"_Am I considered… a mutant?"_

_(next scene)_

"_What happened to him?"_

"_He's just tired, I think," she replied as she carried Maxell. "We'll take him with us back to the Tower to get him analyzed. Let's meet the rest at the bank." Tommy just nodded and walked alongside Kate on the way back to the bank where the gang is at._

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Memoirs of a Fake Being<strong>

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><p>Kate and Tommy walked their way back to the fire-extinguished bank, thanks to Billy's effort. The civilians are safe, but taken to the hospital for check-ups and thankfully, no one was injured whatsoever. The robbers are placed under arrest for robbery of the bank. The Young Avengers took some rest until they saw Kate carrying the young boy in his hands.<p>

Maxell opened his heavy eye lids, trying to see where he was, but all he saw was silhouettes of the heroes, and he can't even hear the conversation going on around him. But he took a guess that they were talking about him. He got really tired this time and decided to just sleep, hoping that the raven-haired girl doesn't mind.

At the Stark Tower, Tony is already been working onto his private project at his laboratory, with all the bits and pieces, along with his instruments all around the floors and his tables. But as he was working and saw the Young Avengers entering his laboratory, he looked rather astonished like he met the young boy before.

"Well, I'll be. Maxell?" said Tony as he placed down his scientific instruments and saw the boy on Kate's arms. The gang was surprised. "Wait, you know his guy?" Tommy asked.

"It's complicated," he replied as he walked closer to the young boy. "He doesn't look well enough. Send him to the guest bedroom and let him rest there." Tommy took Maxell from Kate's arms and rushed towards the nearby guest bedroom.

* * *

><p>On the next fine day, the young boy found himself on a white bed, covered with a white blanket all the way to his shoulders. He found the platinum-white blonde sleeping next to him, sitting on the chair, arms resting on the other boy's right hand. Maxell can't help but to brush his left hand against the blonde's hair, his hair nearly tied to the other boy's fingers. He looked out of the window next to him. The sun shines brightly into his black eyes, nearly showing a hint of deep purple color in his eyes. His eye lids are still heavy. Maybe he has more time to sleep until the afternoon. He shifted his body so he is facing Tommy and took a small nap.<p>

Around 12:15pm, the platinum-white blonde woke the younger boy up. Maxell forced himself to open up his heavy eye lids, looking at Tommy in his sleepy state. "Hey."

"Sorry to wake you up," Tommy apologized, scratching his neck and avoiding eye contacts with the younger boy. "It's afternoon now. You should get some late breakfast."

Maxell gave a small nod and shifted himself so that he could get out of his comfortably warm white bed. The minute he set foot onto the bedroom floor, he felt a chill on his foot, making him shiver and nearly fall because of it. But the platinum-white blonde managed to pick him up before he landed on the floor.

"Whoa, easy there," he said. "You can't faint again yet. You haven't met Tony Stark."

Tony Stark? His name sounded familiar. Where does he have his name from? Is he related to him? He doesn't know. "Listen," he continued. "Maybe you should just stay in bed. I'll get you a sandwich or whatever. Then I'll go get Tony, alright?"

The young boy sat on the bed, sighed and nodded, letting the platinum-white blonde zoom out of the (his) room. He stared at the ground, his eyes, again, still heavy, but tries to stay awake for the whole day. After approximately 45 seconds, Tommy came back with a plate of sandwiches. Maxell took a slice and only took a bite before he placed it back onto the plate. Then he continued to stare at the ground.

Tommy stared at him with such fascination, just like Kate. Only that, he fidgets a bit after he finished eating his slice of sandwich. Thoughts came back to his brain again.

_There he is, right in front of me. Maybe I should say something. But what if he feels disturbed?_

_Come on, Tommy, focus. You're not here to flirt with a guy. You're straight, Tommy, you are. Why are you blushing in front of him?_

Suddenly, Maxell stared at the door as it opened. Tony stepped into the bedroom, along with the android and the raven-haired boy. He looked exactly like Tommy. Only that he looked more innocent than his twin. "Ahh, he looks awake," said Tony. The young boy released his tension vibe, making him looked relaxed that everything's okay. Well, practically, yes, he is going to be okay.

"So, care to explain what you're doing here?" the young boy fidgeted a bit, trying to find himself comfortable.

"My home town is being endangered by a certain species that I am sure that you've already known and even noticed it, Mr Stark," said Maxell, looking calm and collected, having a direct eye contact with Tony.

"Yes, I believe so," replied Tony, scratching the back of his neck. Maxell didn't talk like this before. What happened to him? "But how did you managed to get here?"

Maxell moved his eyes to look at the Grimoire next to him, without saying a word. Tony gives a silent 'oh'. Billy was just staring at his twin. Tommy moved around, looking away from everyone in the room, avoiding eye contacts, looking as if he is angry for no apparent reason. Vision just looked at the young boy, with no sense of emotion.

Then it was just silent, for almost half an hour. Tony felt rather uncomfortable with the silence. It felt like time stopped on its own and everyone just stared at a random spot like as if everyone daydreamed.

"And," Tony asked, breaking the silence that surrounds the room. "How are you after all this while?" Maxell looked back at Tony.

"Never felt good. I kept on running, like something is chasing me," he replied. "But then again, what can I do? I am not human to say the least." Tony felt sorry the minute he heard 'I am not human'. He pretty much knows what Maxell's father did to him.

"So he turned you into-"

Tony swallowed. The atmosphere around them felt tense. Billy felt a rather strange aura around the young boy all of the sudden. Tommy looked at Maxell as if something possessed him. Vision's eyes narrowed, looking concerned on what the young boy would do to all of them. But in the end, Maxell didn't do anything that harmed them. However, everyone in the room was shocked the minute he said that word.

"- homunculus." The young boy finished Tony's sentence in the murmured voice. Billy's nerd instinct just jumped, but never felt happy about it. Instead, he looked more concerned than ever. Vision noticed it as well. Tommy, on the other hand, was the only person who doesn't even know what a homunculus is. Tony then gives him a sympathy look.

But the young boy looked away, at the brink of tears. He never liked the pain he was in.

"A homunculus," he described. "Is somewhat an artificial being of Life itself."

"And it also means an artificial vessel for the soul to be in." Billy continued for him. "But… why?"

"My father wanted power; power to _eliminate_ all evil. So he chose me. I was a weapo-, no. But I was designed as a weapon; a weapon to destroy absolute evil."Maxell described his story as he remembered why he was 'created'.

"I was copied and my soul transferred into this vessel," said Maxell, his eyes heavy and stared at the ground, digging deeper into his memories. "This is not even my real body. This is just a mere copy of my true self."

"Then where is your true self, then?" Billy asked. Tony was horrified the minute he realized something, something that he couldn't even forget.

"It's in _Transylvania_."

Tommy and Billy shared a look of shock; this boy came all the way from Transylvania? How on earth did he even manage to come here from Europe? Despite the fact that he had already explained how he get to New York, that doesn't explain the fact that he didn't tell everyone that he is from Transylvania. Tommy laughed as if this is a joke. Billy just gave a rather puzzled look. Tony, however, still maintained his shocked look.

"Transylvania?" Tommy snorted. "What is this, _Castlevania_?" Maxell ignored the obvious sarcasm there. Tony gave a narrowed look at the platinum-blonde. Suddenly, he shut himself up.

"The Corrupted has shrouded the place. They are now looking for me, thus the reason why I escaped. If they caught me, God knows whatever my father will put me into," exclaimed Maxell, getting rather scared of the situation at hand; he talks as if the Corrupted has already reached New York or something.

Billy already starting to use the locating spell, his eyes widened as magic sparks out of his eyes and started floating. "Well, Maxell isn't lying. Those weird looking thingies are really looking for him. At the sewers."

The young boy panicked. Now he's being chased regardless of wherever he is. Tony tried to calm him down, but Tommy went up to Maxell and hugged him tightly, hoping that his trauma would just stop.

"H-hey. Just calm down, alright?" he asked. His hand clutches the young boy's head. His eyes closed and his eyebrows furrowed. "Don't worry, I'll stay with you." Maxell's tear rolled down on his cheek, dripping on Tommy's t-shirt. He gripped his t-shirt hard, trying not to let go.

_Damn it. Why won't he stop crying?_

_But I guess I know who to protect now._

_Yeah._

_I wanna protect Maxell._

_But we just met._

_I'll just see how this goes._

"I'll let Steve know about the situation at hand," said Tony as he left the room. Vision followed along and Billy sat to a nearby chair that is close to both Tommy and Maxell.

* * *

><p>Around 3pm, Tommy left to buy some food for Maxell to eat, leaving only Billy next to him, taking care of the sleeping boy. As he looked at him, he even reminded him of himself. I guess he isn't alone now. Now that the boy is almost going through what Billy is going through. Mental breakdowns, doubts, but Billy got through with it all.<p>

Fifteen minutes later, Tommy arrived with 2 bags full of foods. Billy was just surprised. Though he recovered quickly because both of them don't exactly know what the young boy would eat. Pizza, bread, yogurt, ice-cream, a whole variety. Kate would be dazzled if she ever finds out about this. But they doubt so.

The young boy wakes up with a yawn and got himself up, only to see both Billy and Tommy eating next to him. "Morning." Maxell just sighed.

"Morning."

"Done breaking down?" Tommy asked with his mouth full. "Coz if ya not, I gonna blow your fucking brains out of you." Maxell gave a soft smirk and shook his head.

The young boy ate a yogurt from the bag that was lying on his elbow while he was on his bed. After Tommy finished eating his bag full of chips, he wanted to know more about him. "So er-,"

Maxell looked at him, puzzled, as his spoon stuck in his mouth. What is he even trying to do?

"How old are you?" Tommy asked, looking very curious of the young boy's life. Billy just chuckled as he eats his slice of pizza.

"I'm 19, going 20 a few months from now," he replied. But then the minute he mentioned about him going 20, Tommy's mouth gapped, dropping his empty bag. Billy nearly choked himself after taking a few bites from his pizza, coughing roughly to get the big piece out of his throat. Both of them looked at each other afterwards; he's 19? He looked like flipping 16.

"You're not joking, are you?" the platinum-blonde asked. Maxell looked unhappy, as if he never showed a 'what-do-you-mean-I'm-joking?' look on his face. Instead, "I became a homunculus at the age of 17, thus my aging froze."

"Oh, and so you lived in Transylvania."

"Correct," Maxell replied to Billy.

"But what happened to your family?" Tommy asked. "Are they still alive?" Maxell just shook his head, never actually wanted to answer that question. Furthermore, his childhood with his parents was never good at all.

Maxell looked away from them, eyes looking at the walls of his bedroom. Tommy regrets talking about his family. But he guessed he was just incredibly curious, is all.

"I'm just assuming that I am an orphan," Maxell replied, still not meeting their direct eye contacts.

"My mother died when I was just a year old. I found a death certificate and some medical certificates about her at my father's closet. It was horrible. Mass blood loss was one of the causes of it. Plus, she had gotten sick with thalassaemia. My father, however, died after successfully transferring my soul to this body, as well as failing to transform myself into a full-fledged homunculus."

"When my father died, he got deteriorated immediately. And it's like he became a zombie of some sort. But it just gotten worse; some bodies coming out of him like the skeleton came out of his body. As grotesque as it is, that is what I _literally_ saw. More came out, and I decided to run with the grimoire."

"When I found out that I don't have to breathe to run, I never stopped running, continuing to run until the edge of the country. I need to find another way to get out of the country, so when I jumped off a cliff, I thought I will just fall into the sea. But I guess that didn't happen. That's when I can jump incredibly high _and_ float while I was up in the sky."

"I let the wind guide me wherever it want to take me, and landed here. It took a year to land here, because of the changes of the wind. I continued to run from where I landed on, having my mind clouded with fear. Another year took to run from San Francisco, or so I thought it was, to here; New York."

"It is also where I met you," Maxell paused for a second before he mentioned the name he wanted to say. "Tommy."

This is where Tommy's eyes began to shake. To him, it felt like the Tower would tear apart. But after listening to what Maxell has gotten to say, it just made sense. Tommy gave the young boy a tight hug. His heart felt its being tugged along with it. He doesn't want to stop lying to himself. He has to admit it his true feelings; he is probably gay for him. And he really wants to defend what he just loved. His eyes closed shut, forcing him not to cry.

He found someone to defend.  
>He found someone to care.<br>He found someone to love.  
>He found someone to bother with.<p>

That's where he started changing. Even if he's still making jokes with the others, annoying Eli and the others, harassing Kate, he still won't stop doing what he wants to do with Maxell, tenderly. Even if he can't do anything for Billy for being a brother to him, at least he found someone to take care of. Besides, despite the fact that he is still overprotective about his brother, he hasn't stop having faith on his twin brother's boyfriend, Teddy, to protect him.

Maxell felt a warm sensation from the platinum-blonde's hands, wrapped around him. The smell of the cologne smells fresh. Like the same smell of the sea that the young boy knew too well. His own hand ruffles with Tommy's platinum hair, his other hand gripping hard on the back of Tommy's t-shirt.

Billy gave them privacy and left the room, bumping onto Teddy. "Oh hey, B."

Billy smiled and put his own fingers on his lips, indicating Teddy to be quiet and give the 2 boys privacy. Teddy then gave a soft 'Oh, okay.'. Teddy moved his arm around Billy's waist and walked together off.

Back in the room, Tommy wanted to tell him how much, even though both of them had just met since yesterday, he wanted to let him know that he wanted to protect the boy like a guardian. Maybe more than that; like a lover. Something that Billy and Teddy is in, perfect and wonderful.

_This is it. I have to confess._

"Maxell?"

The young boy hummed.

"I want to protect you. I wanna take care of you. And I honestly wanna be around you."

_But I'm too scared to say that I love you too early._

No response.

_Say something, dammit._

"So you do have feelings for me."

_Yeah._

_But that still makes me an anti-social asshole like what that fucker would say about me._

The platinum-blonde just nodded softly, still not breaking away from him. Still close to him, still hugging tightly, preventing the young boy to run away.

The young boy hummed again. "Then let me stay like this," a small pause. "A little longer."

The feeling stretched until the night. And both of the slept the same way like before again; Maxell on his own bed. Tommy, sleeping on the chair with arms folded, heads on top of it, on the young boy's bed.

* * *

><p><strong>End of Chapter 2: Memoirs of a Fake Being<strong>

**Next time, on Homunculus; Chapter 3: Atoms and Blood**

"_That monster we found at the middle of the street looks disgusting," Billy blenched._

"_What do you expect," Eli complained. "It is the Corrupted that guy's talking about. And when Maxell is around, they will never stop hunting him down!"_

_(next scene)_

"_You brought them with you," Eli yelled at the young boy in anger. Kate tried to calm him down, but that doesn't stop him as much. Tommy is already in front of Maxell, getting ready to defend him if the black American raised a fist on him. "Why can't you even fight them yourself?"_

_Maxell is already at the brink of tear, and also at the brink of losing himself. Billy felt the resonance of power coming out from him and he didn't felt good about it._

_(next scene)_

"_Whatever it is, Maxell," Billy explained. "I was in that position before." Maxell can only do nothing but pray that this would stop. But it doesn't as long as he felt the heavy guilt on himself._

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><p><strong>Post AN: Maxell's story isn't that long, sadly. Or so I thought. Despite the fact that it is short, the chapter took up to 9 pages.**

**We will go through the Corrupted later. Prepare to enter a Square Enix-inspired world in a middle of nowhere. Nope, it's not Final Fantasy, no it's not even Dragon Quest. I'll let you a huge guess until the next chapter is ready.**

**Until then!**


	3. Chapter 3: Atoms and Blood

**Homunculus**

**Rating****: T**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer<strong>**: I do not own Marvel, The Young Avengers, The Avengers or anything that are made from Marvel. I only own my OC, Maxell Joachim.**

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><p><strong>WARNING<strong>**: As far as I know, OCs is NOT what many people would like to have in a fanfic. So please, if you do NOT like OCs being the main attention, either you wait until I made another chapter that involves the rest of The Young Avengers or don't read it at all. You have been warned. Also, boy x boy, OC pairing with Marvel character, swearing, etc. etc.**

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><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**: This took like week (or less, but it sure felt like a week) to finish this Chapter. Heck, I didn't even had the time to even finish this. But I was thankful I managed to. The next Chapter is where Tommy will try to be out from his OOC. Coz as far as I know, I cringed as much as everyone of you because of this.**

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><p><strong>Previously, on Homunculus…<strong>

"_My home town is being endangered by a certain species that I am sure that you've already known and even noticed it, Mr Stark," said Maxell, looking calm and collected, having a direct eye contact with Tony._

_(next scene)_

"_My mother died when I was just a year old. I found a death certificate and some medical certificates about her at my father's closet. It was horrible. Mass blood loss was one of the causes of it. Plus, she had gotten sick with thalassaemia. My father, however, died after successfully transferring my soul to this body, as well as failing to transform myself into a full-fledged homunculus."_

_(next scene)_

"_I want to protect you. I wanna take care of you. And I honestly wanna be around you."_

"_Then let me stay like this," a small pause. "A little longer."_

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Atoms and Blood<strong>

* * *

><p>The shining light from the window was hitting the raven-haired boy's eyes made him open his eyes slowly, still sleepy. The pillows ruffle as he tried to move himself out from the bed, without trying to wake up the platinum-blonde. He patted his head, feeling the smooth and soft feeling from Tommy's hair.<p>

When he left the bedroom and into the living room, he only saw a butler and Tony, sitting on the couch, watching TV while the butler makes breakfast for the Young Avengers. Maxell scratched his head and sat at the dining table, greeting Tony along the way.

He was at the dining table, though he still looked groggy from waking up at the time like this. But that doesn't stop him from being hungry still. The butler walked towards Maxell elegantly and asked "Any drinks you like to have?"

"If you don't mind if you let me in that kitchen?" Maxell asked. The butler nodded and the raven-haired boy walked towards the kitchen.

The kitchen looked incredibly simple and clean. He glanced through every single cupboard, looking for something. The butler asked him what he was looking for.

"I'm looking for hot chocolate. And no, I'll be fine making my own, thank you."

The butler gave him the tin of cocoa, finely pounded and high quality. Then the boy gets into making his own cup of hot chocolate. He boiled the water and as he does, he scooped 2 tablespoonful of cocoa into his cup. When the water is ready, he poured the hot water in it. He then took milk from the fridge that was just near to him and poured a bit on the hot chocolate. He walked out as he stirred his cup, making a light metal noise like he was drinking tea.

From the dining table, he saw the TV quite well. But what he saw doesn't quite please him when he was about to drink from his cup: he saw something that looked like a freaking grotesque, to his disgust. You could even see the intestines very well too. Heck, it's even moving on its own. He cringed at the look of it, feeling like belching throughout the entire thing that was shown on TV; directly in front of him. Though only just a few metres away from it. But still, he saw everything and that doesn't please him as much.

Tony placed down his cup of coffee, rather worried as his eyes became linear towards the TV, like as if he couldn't believe his eyes. But then, after finding out of what the young boy had said, he could only think of one thing: the Corrupted.

He still remembers that they are still out there in the sewers, looking for the young boy. And they will stop at nothing to chase after him. And that is when he decided to train Maxell privately, without Steve knowing about this.

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><p>Steve knew about how Maxell came here when Tony told him about the young boy and the situation at hand. But that doesn't please Steve about letting him out there and handing the situation with the Young Avengers as he may get hurt from it. Plus, it's just like what the rest of the Young Avengers struggled in back in those days; telling their parents.<p>

Tony already told Steve that his parents are no more, but Steve doesn't give an approval to him just because he is young.

"I don't care if he is young, Steve," Tony yelled. "As I've said: his parents died and he could've handled them back in Transylvania. I understand the reason why you won't let him out there with those things going about, looking for him. But until he doesn't do something about this, they will hurt millions of people in New York. Heck, not _only_ in New York, but _across_ the US or even back in Europe!"

"Listen, Steve. I can just train him and protect him. I'll even be his guardian. I'll sign the legalities if you just please let him handle along with us."

"I'm sorry, Tony," Steve apologized. "But I'm not putting a young boy, with or without powers, in danger. The reason why I didn't let him out is because of how inexperienced he could be."

"And that is why I wanted to train him."

"And _that_ is why another life going to be lost."

Steve understands Tony. But to train a young boy like he did with the rest of the Young Avengers, this is already a different story. Because the Young Avengers took responsibility of their actions and Steve _saw it for himself_.

* * *

><p>"Maxell," Tony said as he walked towards the young boy. "I know this is very sudden. But I would like you to come join in the training program with the others. Is that okay with you?" Maxell's heart felt heavy. His responsibility managed to hold grip onto his entire body. But he doesn't want to escape. He wants to hold onto it until everything is over.<p>

"When will it start?"

"In about 3 hours," he replied. "Jarvis will wake up the others and we'll begin with the training program." Tony left towards his laboratory, bringing his cup of coffee along. The butler went off to the members' bedrooms to wake them up to have breakfast. Maxell took his last sip of his chocolate and went to the kitchen to wash him up.

* * *

><p>When Maxell entered the training room, everyone was already there, waiting for Maxell to get ready. He adjusted his newly attained clothes that Jarvis prepared for him: a black hoodie with swirl designs from the collar stretches all the way to the edge of the sleeves, fingerless gloves, slightly baggy jeans and Converse shoes to match well with the jeans.<p>

Everyone looked at him when he wore rather casual clothes, although it somehow doesn't quite fit the occasion, the fact that it is the summer season. But then again, the young boy never complained, so long as there's a new change of clothes, anything is fine and okay.

"Now, Maxell," Tony started out. "Can you tell us what you can do with that power of yours?"

"I don't have natural powers like you guys have," he stated. "My Grimoire has the ability to manipulate conjuration of weapons. I could try to conjure shields, but sometimes it doesn't work." _Or so he thought._

"I also have the ability to jump high and float from Transylvania, all thanks to my Grimoire. But I don't levitate, if that's how you put it. I still land on ground at one point. And how I am able to float depends on the wind power that Mother Nature hits me."

"So," Billy asked. "What weapon do you often use?"

"When I was fighting the Corrupted when I was trying to escape, I often find myself using this sword," the young boy replied as his Grimoire glowed and erected a sword out from the pages of the Grimoire. Maxell then pulled it out from its 'sheathe' and showed it to them: a sword that looked like how a Norse being would have. Actually, it is.

"_Laevateinn_,"Maxell said as he emphasized it. "A weapon that was once wielded by a Norse monster named Surt. But it was first found by Loki himself."

"- by plucking it out from the gates of Death, and t'was kept in a chest with Sinmoera, with nine strong locks." Tony finishes the last sentence for Maxell. It would seem that he knew about the weapon that the young boy was wielding as well. Maxell chuckled softly.

"You remembered well, Mr Stark."

"You're into Norse mythology, that's how I knew you would use that."

Billy's eyes widen with fascination. Alas, someone he could be nerdy geek Norse freak friends with. He fidgeted around, scratching his fingers as his boyfriend placed his arm around the waist, trying to get him to calm down.

"Hey Eli, mind you'd test his abilities?" Tony asked, and Eli just nodded and went a few metres away from Maxell, getting ready.

"Show us what you can do."

Maxell nodded confidently as he went into his battle stance. His left leg moved forward, his left hand landed on his left leg's inner thighs. His right hand, holding his Grimoire while touching his chin. "Ready when you are."

Eli then charged against Maxell, getting ready his star-shaped shurikens. He tossed the shurikens freely towards Maxell. But then the young boy dodged just by moving aside and let the shurikens vroomed aside him. But that doesn't stopped Eli from trying to tackle him with his clenched fist.

Maxell, just by using his legs and _only_ his legs, successfully swept Eli's legs and gave an upperkick to his chest. While Eli went 'airborne', Maxell did an axe kick and slammed Eli down to the floor, _hard_.

Eli gets up and managed to grab Maxell and wrestled his way through him so he can't move, gripping onto his arms and mostly his legs. "Damn, you're strong."

The young boy tried to counter-attack him by trying to push himself towards Eli and slammed the black American on the floor while being grabbed, but the force is too weak and Eli didn't even flinch at all. In fact, he still landed on the floor first, leaving Eli on top of him. "The best you can do?" Eli mocked.

That is when Maxell got ticked: he managed to twist and turn to release himself from Eli's grip, lifting him off using his own feet. While he's at it, he grasped onto him using his thighs and turned around, making Eli land on the ground whereas Maxell was already onto him. Maxell was rather dangerously close to Eli's face, trying to back off.

Maxell went up to his two feet and lent a hand for Eli to stand up.

"That was unexpected."

"I learned that with my pillow, actually," Maxell grinned sheepishly, trying to hide his blush with his hands covering his mouth.

"Alright then," Tony said. "Next, Teddy, you're up."

It was Teddy's turn to test Maxell. Teddy then shifted himself as his usual self: big, green, hulky, incredibly muscular. That startled Maxell because he didn't expect a shape-shifter to be fighting him. But the blonde never did anything to him. He just stood there without doing anything towards Maxell.

"I just need you to do the best kick you can get to me, and I'll try to measure your strength from there."

Maxell just scratched his head in confusion. But then he tried to land a roundhouse kick at Teddy's stomach. Unsurprisingly enough, he didn't flinch, just like Eli. Maxell cringed in pain: he felt like he is kicking a brick or a titanium wall. Teddy pursed his lips, thinking of how he would rate his attack from one to ten.

Three.  
>Out of Ten.<p>

Maxell felt saddened by that.

"Don't worry; you could try again, if you like," Teddy said, giving the young boy confidence. Maxell nodded and gets ready to try again.

"Does the amount of kicks count?"

"I guess so," Teddy replied as he scratched the back of his neck. "Whenever you're ready." Teddy then stands still, waiting for the young boy to strike him again.

Maxell takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, trying to focus as he tightens his muscles on his legs. As he breathes out, he opens his eyes. Suddenly, he is seeing things. Either is he hallucinating or it's just out of his imaginations, he saw circles with numbers in it, lines pulsating along with his heartbeat. He could have bet that he is hallucinating. But then he got through it with an idea: follow along with the numbers on how to attack Teddy. He then lunge his leg towards the 'targets', hitting Teddy at the different spots of his abdomen.

As he strikes Teddy with his leg, he could've sworn the circle is gone, along with the line. He now understands that he has to follow what his mind wants him to do. But the problem lies on how he got this vision from. He continued striking Teddy until the circles and lines that he's seeing are now gone, hitting Teddy in every spot his mind tells him to, finishing off with another strong forceful frontal kick. This made the shape shifter moved backwards on impact.

The young boy got exhausted and his eyes looked shaky, his vision made it look like an earthquake has occurred, but never felt anything shaky about him. As he gasped for air slowly but deeply, his vision restored and managed to recover from a quick fatigue. He then stares at Teddy for another evaluation.

Seven out of ten.

Maxell just smiled softly after hearing it.

"Next, Billy?" called Tony.

Billy walked forward with his hands cracking with intense lightning. The young boy shivered in fear. This is something Maxell really hates: lightning. Since he was a very young boy back in Transylvania, one of his neighbors died due to being struck by lightning. What's worse was that his neighbor died right in front of him. And that gave him the most fearful childhood fears.

Since that is his fear, he never stops fidgeting and moving backwards away from Billy, looking uncomfortable and afraid. He tries to look away from it, but the lightning is just too bright for him to away from. That is when Billy found out about his fear.

"Maxell, are ya afraid of the lightning?" the young boy just nodded, shaking. "I guess I could use telekinesis if I can."

Random items then appear out of thin air around the gang. Tables, chairs, vases, TV, knives, arrows, pretty much everything that looked throwing able. The raven-haired boy's hand glowed with intense blue light, lifting objects near him, hovered it about.

Maxell readied his Grimoire and went into his battle position, eyes on the floating objects that surround Billy. His right hand gripped hard on his Grimoire to prevent from falling, with determination to get rid every single one of those objects using his Grimoire.

And then the raven-haired boy lunge his hand forward, launching the table first at the young boy. Maxell's Grimoire glowed as he lifts his hand forward. Laevateinn appeared out of nowhere and sliced the table in half. Four books then start to move fast towards him. The young boy conjured his flint-lock rifle and aimed at the books, trying to shoot the first book, before using it as a bat to swing it against the second one.

But one of the books landed on Maxell's chest, dragging him towards the wall. But he used his own strength and pushed the book away from him and conjured another Laevateinn to cut it in half. The last book was about to lunge itself towards the young boy, but Maxell conjured a cannon and blasted the book away into smithereens.

The TV then moved towards the young boy at an incredible speed. That is when Billy shouted "look out" at him. Maxell tried his best to conjure a shield in front of him, but unable to because of how he started stuttering when the TV is trying to lunge its way towards him. The young boy then tried to close his eyes and murmured. As he murmured, he started to show off a purple aura glow around him. His eyes wide opened, emitting a large purple fire out his forehead. He screamed at the top of his lungs, showing that he is in pain.

A shield came out of thin air and stayed on its ground when the TV slammed itself against the shield with a loud **TANG-SCRASH**. The TV then shattered itself because of the excess force that was landed on the shield. It was then exploded by the work of the platinum-blonde while Maxell still shielded himself.

Tommy then ran towards the young boy as Maxell's aura withered from his body and landed on the ground.

* * *

><p>The young boy found himself in his room, again. He lifts himself up from the pillow that cushioned his head and saw no one else in his room except himself. He brushed his own hands on his face up to his fringe, gripping it hard as he fondles his own hair. The blonde, the platinum-blonde and the raven-haired boy entered the room after a few minutes later.<p>

They were carrying more food than before. _Typical_. Maxell sighed and adjusted his position so that he is sitting on the edge of the bed. "You know, you guys sure eat a lot."

"Yeah, I know," Tommy replied. "I'm trying to get into shape, but I haven't been eating a lot lately, so yeah." He unwrap his candy bar and chewed. "How are ya feeling? Billy got lost out of his powers, but I kinda got over it." He glared at his twin brother and rolled his eyes. Billy shrugged his shoulders as his Pocky was stuck in his mouth. Teddy was just lying on the floor, his back resting onto the wall.

Maxell shook his head as he brushed his hair backwards and let his fringe fall back into place slowly. "Just something I didn't exactly expect." He picked up a can of Horlicks (_do they have it at the US?_) from one of the plastic bag. Opened it up and drank from there. Well, it would've been better if it's hot. But he didn't complain at all.

He stared at his own drink for a long time, daydreaming. Billy took this chance to alert Tommy, "Tommy, could you follow me outside for a while?" Tommy gave him a quizzical look on his face.

Billy and Tommy walked out of the room and that's when Billy crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow and smirked at his twin. He knew what is going on. "You're into him, aren't you?"

"W-what do you mean by that?" the platinum-blonde surprised by the question coming out from his twin brother.

"Don't act all 'I dunno what is going on' look on me," the raven-haired boy replied. "Just tell me. I won't tell anyone else. Not even Teddy. He knows."

"If you think I liked him, just think again. Just because I wanna be his partner and protect him _doesn't_ mean I have a thing for him, if that's what you mean," Tommy replied, with the annoyed voice out from his mouth.

"Yeah, but hugging him _twice_, trying to assure him that everything's okay, that is just not you. You're way out of character there. Just what happened to you?"

"Because you wouldn't even let me care about you," he yelled. "You have Teddy, so what's the point of me taking care of you? Heck, even threatening him with some valid reasons, you still won't care. It's not that I hate him or anything, but really, why can't you let me protect you as well?"

Billy closed his eyes, his lips pursed as if he's pouting, but he's not. "So that's what this is: you want to protect someone other than me, right? Even if it's just a random person you've just met a few days ago?"

"…yeah."

"But you know," Billy explained, scratching his head. "You've already _saved_ some people while we're doing our duties. I'm just gonna point to you that that is already called _protecting_. Or is there something else I should know?"

_Tommy, just shut up and admit. You like him like you like Eli. Just shut up and say it. He's your brother, too. And he also understands you since he's gay and in a fucking relationship with Teddy. So why not be open as well?_

"…I'm in love with Max."

"And what did you say earlier?" Billy smirked, trying to annoy the hell out of his brother. Thankfully, Tommy got a taste of his own medicine. Tommy looked down, avoiding eye contact with his brother.

"That I didn't like him…"

Billy hugged his brother tightly, his arms behind his twin's back. "It's okay to be mad at me for nearly hurting him. And it's also okay that you found another one to love other than Eli. I mean, I knew both of you broke up and all that. But at least you didn't give up and found Maxell." He sighed as he released him from his arms. Tommy's tear was on his cheek. Billy wiped his tear with his own thumb, holding dearly with his hand on his cheek.

"God, this isn't me."

"So can you stop with this OOC act, admit to Max and then act as normal?" Billy asked soft but sounds strict. Tommy nodded a yes.

But then when they are about to enter back into Maxell's room, an alarm came out.

"Avengers, please proceed to the laboratory."

_I guess this is it, but during a mission?_

* * *

><p>"We found the Corrupted," was the first thing that Tony told them about it. Tommy saw Maxell fidgeting with his Grimoire on his right hand, trying to pull himself together. He also ignored almost everything that Tony told them to do: just eliminate the threatening Corrupted and ignore the rest until he finally analyzed them for more information.<p>

"Are we clear?"

The team nodded, except for Tommy. And the Young Avengers ran off.

They were outside the Stark Tower and already trying to find the threat around the city when a scream is heard from the east side of where they were at. The gang ran towards the area and found quite a number of Corrupted on the street.

The Young Avengers charged themselves forward towards the Corrupted. Cassie grew as big as one of the Corrupted size and tried to bring it down for the others to attack. Eli already threw the stars while making a frontal attack at them. Teddy hulked himself, aiding Billy. Kate and Maxell are already next to each other, shooting arrows and Laventeinns at them, which leave to Tommy, doing almost nothing other than staring at Maxell.

Kate was already out of arrows at her quiver. "Too many Corrupted out here, I don't think I could be able to handle the rest out other than using my staves." Maxell grabbed the quiver and arrows suddenly appeared again. "Damn, you are useful." Maxell gave a wink and continued fending himself off.

But as they fight, more and more Corrupted arrived. Eli was just getting more and more pissed off as usual. There is like, no end to this raid. Cassie kicked the Corrupted as if it was made of sand. Teddy managed to punch them off from Billy when he was charging his electricity powers. Tommy started waving his hands, exploding every single Corrupted with just a single wave. Kate and Maxell are on each other's backs, trying to push them away from each other.

Tommy raced towards the two and exploded the Corrupted that surrounds them. Kate and Maxell panted for air to breathe. "Where's the last one?"

"Over there," shouted Eli as he pointed at that weird-looking Corrupted. It looked like a zombie, but doesn't quite eat people, as much as everyone is concerned. But its arm is ridiculously huge, like something out of L4D2. But it isn't: the arm and one of the legs is shaped like a crescent, sharp enough to cut even a car and a building. Limping because one of the legs is shorter than the other, it charges against Maxell.

Maxell was about to cast his Laventeinn, but was interrupted by Billy's desire to push him away from the Corrupted attack. But it never gave up: he started to try and attack Maxell again and again. But Maxell managed to dodge its attacks by jumping backwards and letting his Grimoire float him backwards. He then conjured a large spear. "Gungnir!" he called as he tossed the spear and impaled the charging Corrupted.

The Corrupted suddenly dissolved and its particles went into the young boy's body. He winced hard as the particles surged into his blood vessel, making him glow just like how he did back in the training room. He grabs hold onto his chest, tugging his own hoodie, trying to endure the pain.

"That monster we found _at the middle of the street_ looks disgusting," Billy blenched.

"What do you expect," Eli complained. "It is the Corrupted that guy's talking about. And when Maxell is around, they will never stop hunting him down!"

And that doesn't stop the young boy from glowing ridiculously bright now. His eye lids became heavy. No way is he going to faint yet again, and again. Suddenly, the power surged out of him, pulsing every time his heart beats. His eye shot open and the last pulse made him went surprisingly normal. No fainting, no out-of-control. Just normal. That was weird.

Maxell finds himself standing perfectly still without falling. He wanted to open his mouth but Eli just walked towards him and grabbed his arm. "Shut up, and let's go." How he gripped his arm was incredibly hard. Maxell furrowed his eyebrows in pain. Must he have to go through this the pain in general again?

* * *

><p>The black American dragged the young boy into the laboratory, making him land on Tony. Tony was completely confused onto what was going on. But he managed to get Maxell up from falling again. "What's the meaning of this?"<p>

"**You brought them with you**," Eli yelled at the young boy in anger. Kate tried to calm him down, but that doesn't stop him as much. Tommy is already in front of Maxell, getting ready to defend him if the black American raised a fist on him. "Why can't you even fight them **yourself**?"

Maxell is already at the brink of tear, and also at the brink of losing himself. Billy felt the resonance of power coming out from him and he didn't felt good about it.

"But Eli," said Kate. "You know what was down there. That was _a lot_. Not even Maxell noticed it too. I saw him being as scared as I was back there."

"But he started all his bullshit and made us clean up the job for him."

"At least he helped out. Heck, he even helped me out back there. Why are you even that angry about?"

"The town was saved, too. No casualties," said Billy. "Eli, you're just being paranoid that this will happen again."

"And of course I don't want this to happen again. If we weren't careful, there _will_ be casualties. It's like a fucking god-damn for-fucking-saken war down there. It's like Civil War II all over it." The black American walked off from the laboratory, leaving the rest sighing stressful while Maxell went into distress. Tommy gripped hard on his hand to assure him everything's alright.

Billy accompanied both Tommy and Maxell in his room. Teddy and the others are already in their bedrooms, resting. "Sorry he kinda hurt you hard there. I forgot to tell you he has super strength."

Maxell shakes his head. Although despite the fact that it does hit him hard psychologically, he doesn't exactly mind the pain too much. It's just that he didn't expect that to happen. Billy, knowing that, just sighed and placed his hand onto the young boy's, reassuring, just like what Tommy has been doing the whole time.

"Whatever it is, Maxell," Billy explained. "I was in that position before." Maxell can only do nothing but pray that this would stop. But it doesn't as long as he felt the heavy guilt on himself.

"And also, he loved you. So please take care of him for me, will you?"

Maxell was surprised the minute he heard that. Tommy, of all people, had feelings for him. He gazed towards the platinum-blonde, who's already asleep. He won't ever stop thinking of trying to repay him with whatever he can.

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><p><strong>End of Chapter 3: Atoms and Blood<strong>

**Next time, on Homunculus; Chapter 4: Bonds**

"_So he told you about me, huh?" the platinum-blonde replied. "But did he tell you I was once in a relationship with Eli before?"_

_Maxell nodded and let him explained. "I don't exactly consider myself gay because of what Eli did to me. After we broke up, I even declared myself straight again. And that's why I kept on thinking in my mind 'why am I gay' again just like before."_

"_Why can't you just accept the fact that you're gay?" _

"_I just want someone to love for the rest of my life. My life with Eli was short-lived. Plus, Eli even proposed to Kate. Not that I hate her or anything. Heck, I even loved her as well, just not as much as Eli."_

"_So you're at least bisexual. Just like me."_

"_What?" was Tommy's only reaction when he found out about Maxell's orientation._

* * *

><p><strong>Post AN: Yep, Maxell's bi. Problem? We'll get to that tomorrow. And after his story, the rest will be in their normal daily lives (because to be realistic, they defeated as almost as four-quarter the amount of the Corrupted that was running amuck in town). **

**And if you guys guessed the 3****rd**** Birthday from Square-Enix, you are indeed right. Congratulations! Now, have a virtual cookie that doesn't exist at all.**

**Probably the 2 chapters from now will give Maxell hiatus until further chapters to save your sanity. And also because I don't think Maxell should get too much of attention since the whole story doesn't exactly revolves around him despite him being the protagonist of the story. It's just Maxell in Tommy's life, is all.**

**Think of this as Final Fantasy XII: Vaan is the protagonist, whereas Ashe is the main storyline character. In this case, Maxell is the protagonist, and Tommy is the main storyline character. **

**Also, I'll be putting you guys into Tommy's POV starting from next 2 chapters from now until then. Gotta plan ahead before you produce them, ya know.**


	4. Chapter 4: Bonds

**Homunculus**

**Rating****: T**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer<strong>**: I do not own Marvel, The Young Avengers, The Avengers or anything that are made from Marvel. I only own my OC, Maxell Joachim.**

* * *

><p><strong>WARNING<strong>**: As far as I know, OCs is NOT what many people would like to have in a fanfic. So please, if you do NOT like OCs being the main attention, either you wait until I made another chapter that involves the rest of The Young Avengers or don't read it at all. You have been warned. Also, boy x boy, OC pairing with Marvel character, swearing, etc. etc.**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**: Didn't had time to finish it by the day I promised. Assignments got in and I had to do them by next week Friday.**

**Also, I'm TRYING my very best to get him back into character. But I don't think I had well enough. But then again, another chapter done.**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously, on Homunculus…<strong>

"…_I'm in love with Max."_

"_And what did you say earlier?" Billy smirked, trying to annoy the hell out of his brother. Thankfully, Tommy got a taste of his own medicine. Tommy looked down, avoiding eye contact with his brother._

"_That I didn't like him…"_

_(next scene)_

"_And also, he loved you. So please take care of him for me, will you?"_

_Maxell was surprised the minute he heard that. Tommy, of all people, had feelings for him. He gazed towards the platinum-blonde, who's already asleep. He won't ever stop thinking of trying to repay him with whatever he can._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Bonds<strong>

* * *

><p>The next day, everything went completely normal. Despite the fact that there are still strong Corrupted out there, they haven't wreak havoc as much as the team was concerned. And the whole team went through their daily lives.<p>

Cassie and Kate went shopping for groceries, since Billy and Teddy would obviously be taking their sweet time buying groceries anyway. Furthermore, they're going to watch movies together. Jonas (Vision) was downloading some more information from Tony about the Corrupted and will stand by ready when he is able to track them down, if the Corrupted hurts the civilians. Eli stayed at his room, watching his television and surfing the Internet with his laptop, Tommy, back in his usual self, loves annoying the crap out of Eli when he clearly was doing his work on his laptop, and even Maxell for being a nerdy bookworm after finding out how many books that he could even finished reading within a day. Although Maxell just shakes his head and said he just needed some ideas to increase his 'arsenal'.

"So you're not exactly reading them. What gives?"

"Their names." Tommy squint his eyes in disbelief. So maybe Maxell isn't exactly reading. More like _glancing_ through books and finding names of weapons. He could've just done that with Wikipedia (_honestly, I actually did that to find a suitable main weapon for Maxell_).

"That's not even reading," said Tommy.

"But what am I holding?" Maxell's eyes on Tommy's, his face unmoved.

"A book."

"And what are you _supposed_ to do with a book?"

"You're supposed to- but you're not reading at all!" exclaimed Tommy. What on earth is Maxell thinking? It just doesn't make sense at all, too. So that means he was just glancing through words without feeling sleepy just to find names of weapons, and flips pages like magazines. "That is _NOT_ a magazine." Tommy pointed at the book that Maxell was reading.

"I'm just picky with my 'food'," Maxell replied, adding along the bookworm joke that Tommy teased him with. "I'm not a glutton, not like you." Yep, Tommy does eat a lot. Not to mention how many junk food he brought in Maxell's room, proudly eating in front of him like Maxell doesn't mind about it. Maxell then continued to flip through pages again before placing it down onto the coffee table next to the hot chocolate that he asked Jarvis to make for him. He then went towards the shelf and took another. Tommy pouted.

Cassie and Kate came back and called for the boys to help them place the groceries into the fridge. While Maxell was placing a salmon into the top part of the fridge, he saw something that caught his interest. He asked Kate as his hands ruffled through the plastic bags full of other groceries. He grabs hold of the box and showed it to her. "What's this?"

"Oh that," replied Kate as she opened the top part of the box, revealing stick biscuits with chocolate coating around the stick from the top to the near bottom of the stick. "This is Pocky." She passed it to Maxell to give him a try. Maxell took a bite at the tip of the chocolate stick. A sweet sensation hits his tongue buds, making his head shiver a bit, but enjoying the taste of the chocolate mixed with the stick biscuit. He likes it.

"Oh, oh, oh, lemme try something!" exclaimed Cassie as she took a bite at the other end of the stick that Maxell was holding with his teeth. Tommy looked at it; light blushes went across his cheek. When Maxell saw a glimpse of this, Tommy immediately ran towards his room and shuts the door.

Cassie then looked behind, where Eli, Kate and possibly Maxell was looking at Tommy's spot after he zoomed out of the kitchen. Cassie looked back to Maxell, whose face looked clearly puzzled. Maxell just shrugged it off and continued eating the rest of the chocolate stick and continued moving all the groceries into the fridge.

* * *

><p>After all of the groceries was moved, he went back into the library to clean up his cup back at the kitchen and rearrange the books back into the shelves. When he was at the kitchen, after cleaning up at the library, he washed the cup slowly and thoroughly, thinking how come the days went by fast and all the events just happened too sudden and fast too. He also thought what exactly Billy had said to him about Tommy:<p>

"_And also, he loved you. So please take care of him for me, will you?"_

He just met him from the very first day he bumped into him. Why would he be taking care of him when he doesn't even know him well enough, other than pestering him while he was 'reading', or having a huge appetite for junk food? Maybe he just wanted someone to care about. Wait… he already said that to him. Maybe he didn't get the message clear enough? He guessed he should let this slip and let it happen. Who knows? Maybe he isn't lying. But if he is, then… all of this shouldn't have happened and he would've continued running and fighting all by himself. But ever since these people got involved because of him, maybe he should just at least fight alongside with them and end it all. He shook off the feeling and placed the cup back at the cupboard. Suddenly, the alarm went off.

"Alert! Alert! The Corrupted has been confirmed."

Maxell rushed out of the kitchen and went into the laboratory, only to find Jonas and Tony in the laboratory. Where are the others?

"We got a major issue," Tony said in a mass emotion of concern. This doesn't look good, from the looks of Tony. "We found out that the Corrupted can mass reproduce them."

"What?" Maxell exclaim in deep dissatisfaction, but he managed to know how they do that. This really doesn't look or even sound good either. So now the Corrupted can multiply, and then what? "Something has been mutilating it to allow them to reproduce. I felt the resonance after defeating that first strong Corrupted."

"Not only that, Max," Vision said. "The DNA structures are matched with yo-"

"I know that!" Heck, he knows that the Corrupted are badly mutated Homunculi being that naturally came out literally from his father's body. Wait… if that Corrupted are Homunculi, then what of his father?

"But theirs are _more_ advanced and their developments are extremely fast. We have to find a way to freeze their structures and eliminate them from there."

The Young Avengers arrived into the laboratory when they saw Maxell fell silent throughout the entire explanation that both Tony and Vision was telling him about. He just stared entirely still, at the wall. His mind wandered into the past with mass mystery. Slowly, it felt like time just stopped entirely and his eyes went shut.

* * *

><p><strong>Maxell's POV<strong>

The world felt heavy, and I couldn't even open my eyes. All I feel is being cold. And it felt like I'm floating as well. I could hear the sound of water, glass tapping and a voice; a faint voice. It sounded like… father.

I tried to open my eyes, only to find my father standing in front of the large tube I'm in. His eyes determined, his hand gesture looked as evil as it waved about, like he's casting a spell or something, and his face ever so fierce. I see him holding a book… a grimoire? Wait… that's the same Grimoire I'm holding.

Wait… this is… the Past? Is this Transylvania? I couldn't even move to even knock the glass down, or even able to speak to shout out to my father. I can feel, touch, see, hear and even taste the water. But I can't even make my own body move or say a word. It felt like I'm strictly paralyzed. Either way, I can really relate this to my Past. Or is this really my Past?

Suddenly, my body moved on its own, re-enacting the Past of what I really did. My body slammed the glass using my fist, letting the water flow out from the tube. Once the water was drained, I've somehow jumped out of the tube and saw my body glowing purple. When I saw my father holding the Grimoire, I 'stole' the book of his hands and saw him mutilated on his own. It looked disgusting. Thankfully, my body used my hands to cover my sight. I never wanted to see it, anyway. But what I'm not thankful enough was to see those Corrupted coming out of his body. I quickly thought 'run, damn it, run!'

My body ran across the hall of Homunculi. I never looked at them and continued running until I see the ladder, leading up to the surface. Or not. All I see was the living room. But as I looked down, shadows formed something like a monster. My body closed the trap door, but didn't block it and ran towards the door. And then…

* * *

><p><strong>Back to normal view<strong>

Maxell snapped out of it the minute Tommy snapped his finger in front of him. He flickered eyes and moved back a bit, surprised to see the platinum-blonde right in front of him. He never felt like that before. In fact, that never felt like a daydream. The re-enactment was so real. But thankfully he didn't feel wet all over. He shook his head again and blinked at Tommy.

"Are you okay?" Maxell's eyes flickered again as he looked away from Tommy when he asked.

"I've predicted a huge wave coursed into Maxell's body. He must've encountered some lucid dream," said Vision. "I am pretty sure he'll be fine after he recuperates."

"N-no, I'm fine now," Maxell replied as he rubbed his eyes.

"Alright now, so any more questions?" Tony asked. No one replied. "Good, now I'll be going to the scene as well. I'll contact Captain as soon as you get ready."

Everyone left except for Maxell and Tommy. "Dude, really, you okay?" Maxell didn't reply. Instead he turned towards him and stared at him. His eyes felt like tearing up. But he closed his eyes and nodded. Tommy sighed and walked up to him. "It's okay if you wanna stay." Maxell shook his head. Tommy carried him bridal-style and zoomed off to the scene.

While at the scene, it was just like yesterday: a horde of Corrupted. But Tommy guessed everything is according to yesterday's plan. Tommy led Maxell down and let him stand on his own. "You sure are heavy, if you asked me." Maxell just smiled softly at him. He looked beautiful, with his eyes shining like that.

Tommy just nodded, grinning back and ran off, leaving Maxell on his own. But just as he left, the Corrupted are already giving chase and strike against him. Maxell conjured one of those flint-lock rifles and shot at one of them. He then flips the rifle to act as a bat and slammed one of the airborne Corrupted down.

Maxell then flips backwards and conjured two submachine guns, one at each hand, and started spraying (_in game sense, yeah_) bullets at the Corrupted that surrounded him. He then left a grenade on the ground and jumped high enough when the Corrupted get closed to him. He conjured a large sniper rifle and shot the grenade to explode immediately and the Corrupted that was around it was sent flying off, landing safely somewhere where the gang is at.

The Young Avengers are already finished fighting some few other Corrupted until their 'boss' arrived. This is where Tommy smirked at it in a funny way, trying to prevent himself from laughing. It looked like a female wearing a skirt. But it sure has those sword-looking arms and pointy legs that looked like nails. She had a very huge grin on her mouth that stretched across her cheek, revealing her massive sharp teeth.

The Corrupted, just like the previous one, gave chase to him and tried to stab him with her sword arms. Maxell managed to parry it using the Laevateinn he was holding onto and dodged backwards. The Corrupted danced, swinging her arms about towards him. Maxell followed suit as he twirled around, parrying every single strike that the Corrupted tried to attacked him. After a few tries, the Corrupted tried to crisscross slash Maxell but he managed to parry both of them at the same time. "Laevateinn!"

Out of nowhere, another Laevateinn stabbed the heart of the Corrupted. But that doesn't kill her quite yet. She managed to pull out the sword out of her chest and destroyed it into two. Maxell can't panic yet. But then he got an idea. Just something he considers it stupid, somehow.

He closed his eyes, relaxing his mind and tries to 'hallucinate'. As he opens his eyes, a new shape appeared: a triangle. He started glowing unintentionally when he saw that. "He's gonna blow up again…" groaned Eli.

"Just like before," said Vision. "His DNA particles are dissolving."

That surprises Tommy. But he didn't do anything to him. Why is he starting to combust? Maxell slowly walked towards the charging Corrupted. Each step makes him walk faster and faster, picking up the pace until he starts running. "This is it."

The minute he is closed enough, he literally pounced towards the female Corrupted and vanished. The particles surrounded the Corrupted and she groaned and gargled in pain. Slowly she dissolved and then exploded into bits. A few meters away, Maxell reappeared, reforming back into his physical form. He gasped for air more roughly than normal. He felt the heat running through his veins. It felt like his own blood boils endlessly, like he's being boiled into a hot pot or something. This is probably his first time invading a body and combust it into smithereens. Tommy's eye widened.

"Dude," he said. "That was **AWESOME**! Can you do that again?" Looks like Tommy isn't exactly the only one who could combust things like him. Maxell just glared at him and said "No."

"Furthermore, I wanted their DNA to alter, not combust."

"Yeah, but damn, you could be powerful," exclaimed Tommy. Billy then slaps him behind his head.

Maxell couldn't disagree on that though: he can be powerful. But he doesn't want that. He doesn't even want these kinds of power. Well… only the ability to conjure weapons from the Grimoire. Other than that, he doesn't want them. But he can't blame himself because of his innate ability, and his origins. He sighed and gave a small smile at Tommy, indicating him that he's alright now.

* * *

><p>The Young Avengers walked their way back towards the tower and rested themselves in their respective rooms. Maxell, on the other hand wanted to take a proper bath. He stripped himself from his hoodies and baggy jeans and placed them on his own bed, with his towel wrapped around him as he headed towards the bathroom.<p>

He turned the water on and lets the water flow down from his raven-hair with purple highlights towards his body down all the way towards his feet. Feeling extremely tired, he landed himself onto the cold bathroom wall, his body stuck on the wall, and never let go. He lets his left cheek rest onto the wall and closed his eyes, letting the water nourish his dirty skin. His hands were next to his own face.

Suddenly, there was a soft knock on the door. Maxell quickly turned off the water and walked towards the door with his towel. It was Cassie. "Hey, can I talk to you later?"

"Em yeah… sure?"

He dried himself up and wore himself some new casual clothes that Kate left for him to wear. After he left the bathroom, he met Cassie at the Living Room, waving at him to have a chat with him. Actually, why would Cassie want to talk to him for?

"Well, you see… it's about Tommy." Another one? "I wanted to thank you for helping him out. He was out of his own character back then. He wasn't so hyperactive ever since… well… since Eli broke up with him." She jumped into the point, since the look on Maxell doesn't quite solve the reason why Cassie wanted to talk to him about.

And then Cassie talked about how Eli still had feelings for Kate and still hoped that both of them remained friends by just staying true to what he enjoys the most. But then Tommy loved him and never been the same Tommy they once knew back then: funny, annoying, sarcastic, defensive, and caring.

All the feelings that Tommy once felt for Eli was gone and went out of character of him because of the trauma. And to Maxell's perspective, maybe he just wanted someone to cover up his whole reason: finding someone to defend while he tries to get used to it and be what he'll normally do. But to him, he's already what Tommy is. Not to mention how Tommy's behavior towards him: cheeky, annoying, lovable. _Lovable_… huh?

Maxell heard the short but straight-forward story about their relationship, and why Eli was so angry about him, not just about the Corrupted, but getting Tommy into danger. Although now it is hard to apologize to Eli right now, he could still feel guilty about not apologizing for what they've gone through.

"So please, just try to keep Tommy happy, won't you?"

Maxell stared at the table in front of the couch. If Tommy loved him, he'd probably be gay for him, and only gay for him. And both Billy and Cassie want him to make Tommy happy. "I'll… see what I can do," he replied as he laid his hands on Cassie's. "Don't worry, I'll try my best." Cassie giggled.

"Oh we'll see, alright," then both of them saw Tommy walking his way down to the Living Room. "Ahh, there he is. I'll leave this to you, alright?" Maxell nodded and Cassie went off to her bedroom. Maxell then stared at the TV in front of him, watching nothing but drama shows. Desperate Housewives. Now that's hot. He lifted one of his legs up, hugging it as he watched, and his back lying back on the couch.

Tommy sat down next to him, not saying a word, nor is he even staring at Maxell. He just sat down there and stared at the TV. "Why are we even watching cheesy shows?"

"Doesn't look like one to me."

"That's because you didn't watch the entire thing." Tommy sighed and placed his hands on the back of his head, sitting back on the couch.

Silence took over for the next ten minutes. This would be damn awkward. Tommy has got to do something about this.

_Damn it; just say something, will you? I can't be the only one trying to start a conversation. I mean, why it is so hard to even -_

The minute he wanted to finish his internal thought, he felt as if Maxell was staring at him throughout the entire thing. And yes, he did. Tommy stared back at him as if there's something wrong with his face, raising his eyebrow in doubt. "What ya looking at?"

"Your dumb, cheeky face," Maxell replied as he shifted himself so that he's staring directly at Tommy, his legs crossed and his hands resting on his legs. He chuckled. "Sometimes, when you think so much, you make that goofy looking face of yours." He teased.

"H-hey, I ain' goofy, ya know!" Tommy pouted. Maxell gave a mused face and pursed his lips in satisfaction. Tommy went up to him and flicked a finger at Maxell's forehead, not that Maxell minded. His head buckled backwards when Tommy did so.

_Wow, he sure has the nerve. Why not I push his buttons?_

But when he was about to even say something; Maxell wasn't in front of him now. Suddenly, a hot breath touched Tommy's right ear and he jumped out of his seat. Thankfully enough, he didn't combust anything out of his surprise. And saw Maxell behind him. Damn, he's good at teasing. "H-hey!"

Maxell sighed comically. "If this keeps up, I could make a fool out of you and stop teasing the team." He chuckled at the thought. Maybe he should really do so. But when he's about to say something to Tommy, he's already in front of him, covering his mouth using both of his hands.

"Not a word, idiot!" Maxell gave a smirk while his mouth being covered.

Slowly, Tommy releases his hands and Maxell kept his mouth shut until Tommy found something to talk about: a conversation between Maxell and his twin brother Billy. "Well, about Billy and you…"

"Hmm? What of it?" Maxell asked as he walked closer to Tommy.

"So he told you about me, huh?" the platinum-blonde replied. "But did he tell you I was once in a relationship with Eli before?"

Maxell nodded and let him explained. "I don't exactly consider myself gay because of what Eli did to me. After we broke up, I even declared myself straight again. And that's why I kept on thinking in my mind 'why am I gay' again just like before."

"Why can't you just accept the fact that you're gay?"

"I just want someone to love for the rest of my life. My life with Eli was short-lived. Plus, Eli even proposed to Kate. Not that I hate her or anything. Heck, I even loved her as well, just not as much as Eli."

"So you're at least bisexual. Just like me."

"What?" was Tommy's only reaction when he found out about Maxell's orientation.

Maxell closed the gap between both of them and his lips brushed with Tommy's. The platinum-blonde's lips were dry, so Maxell grips Tommy's wrists to get closer to lick his lips wet and continued to enter his mouth. Tommy never argued. Instead, he gripped Maxell by his side and pulled him closer and embraced him, never letting him go after kissing for more than a minute. Maxell's arms went around Tommy's neck, pulling closer. Their kiss was wet, bothered and hot. Slowly, they opened a gap between each other, their breath completely dense with heat. The temperature around them increased.

Then they went at it again, this time, not letting it go. Maxell clutched Tommy's white shirt and hooked his left legs with his own. Tommy's legs went in between Maxell's legs, hitting the groin. But no, Maxell doesn't want it now. Not yet at all either. Maxell released Tommy from the kiss, holding back a moan as he bit both of his lips internally. His eye lids closed completely.

Their forehead bumped together, sharing their hot breath together. Their hands intertwined together. The atmosphere around them then went cold, but they never complained. Tommy chuckled and Maxell smiled softly. "So, you found someone to protect, this time around."

"I won't let go." Tommy's grip hardened.

"I didn't plan on doing so," Maxell replied as a tear rolled down on his right cheek. But went up to look at Tommy smiled anyway.

Tommy hugged him tightly, securing Maxell in his warm arms. Maxell's hands was placed on both his own and Tommy's chest, both heartbeat beating as one. Then he fell asleep, his head landed on Tommy's slim but fit abdomen.

Then time felt like it froze yet again. But he never cared. He only never wanted this to end. Not until everything's over.

* * *

><p><strong>Next time, on Homunculus; Chapter 5: Perception<strong>

_I never felt any true emotions of Maxell when we first met. He looked always troubled with his Past. He always looked quiet, but was never afraid to tell whatever necessary about his own life. He also kept everything to himself, making him like some lost child who is surrounded by strangers who he never met before._

_(next scene)_

_Every time we went to training, I've always seen him using that weird sword that always appears out of nowhere. Laevateinn, as you would have called it. He waved his hands as though he is dancing, and swords started coming out of nowhere._

_In target practice, he uses a sniper rifle. How he managed to hold a large, heavy sniper rifle, I wouldn't know. His accuracy pars with Kate, but he sure takes his time to aim at the target, especially the moving ones._

_When it comes to physical training, Teddy and he always spar together. Maxell always uses his taekwon skills. He never liked his hands dirty. Weird enough, his left hand always touch the ground, trying to make him balance with only one hand. Although he isn't that strong enough to hold for one hand, he managed to recover on his two feet quick enough._

_(next scene)_

_I guess he understands how I feel about Eli, back in those days. Even now, I still had feelings for him. But I guess I don't mind being just friends with Eli, although I love to annoy him at times. I've always see Maxell 'reading' books in the library. But there's always a time and a book he always reads again and again._

_There's also times when he lay his head on my lap, while reading sideways. When I'm always around, he always read it out softly and made himself to sleep on the lap. I pat his head as I doze off into my own sleeping dream._

* * *

><p><strong>Post AN: As I've said, I'm showing Tommy's perception in his life with Maxell although the 3****rd**** scene felt like it's the last scene for the next chapter, when it's actually not.**

**And also, I wanted both Tommy and Maxell to have a rather light romance with each other. Even though Tommy kissed Eli before, I wanted to make Maxell felt like he never experienced this kiss before.**

**Also, more in-depth reference of The 3****rd**** Birthday; Overdive.**

**Not much to talk about, actually. But I'm planning to put every single character in their first perspective about Maxell and their relationship with him.**


	5. Side Storia 1

**Homunculus Side Storia No. 1 – Getting to Know How Annoyingly Cute You Are**

**Rating****: T**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer<strong>**: I do not own Marvel, The Young Avengers, The Avengers or anything that are made from Marvel. I only own my OC, Maxell Joachim.**

**In this Side Storia, I also do not own Kara No Kyoukai as well.**

* * *

><p><strong>WARNING<strong>**: As far as I know, OCs is NOT what many people would like to have in a fanfic. So please, if you do NOT like OCs being the main attention, either you wait until I made another chapter that involves the rest of The Young Avengers or don't read it at all. You have been warned. Also, boy x boy, OC pairing with Marvel character, swearing, etc. etc.**

**Author's Note****: Before we begin, this side story has nothing to do with the main story, so chill. However, it took place DURING the Homunculus main story. This will happen after every 4 chapters.**

**I've also done this Side Storia within 2 days, so thank God.**

* * *

><p><strong>Shelves<strong>

The Homunculus was sitting in the library, doing his usual reading in the library. Books towering next to the couch as he placed another book on top of them. Reading yet _another_ book, he slouched on the couch, lying on his own stomach and reading with his legs up. After a few chapters on the book he was reading, he deeply sighed and drank his hot chocolate that was placed on top of the table near to the couch. He bookmarked the book and walked toward the shelf.

An empty shelf.

The minute Maxell realized it; he jerked his head back in surprise. Is that how much he reads? He shrugged it off and placed back the books back to where it belonged.

While he was arranging the books, Tommy entered and saw the shelf half-empty. His right hand rested on his hips and sighed, shaking his head. As a normal human being he tried to be, he walked slowly towards Maxell and lied against the shelf, not afraid to topple it down. Maxell saw him and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Tommy," he asked, shaking his head, trying to find a proper sentence to ask him. "What are you doing?"

Tommy moved his eyes left and right, as if he is confused. "What do you think?" Maxell just sighed and moved on to replacing the books back into the shelf. "You know, you're doing it so slow." Maxell pouted in annoyance.

"But that doesn't mean you can just put books back randomly and make it look like a mess."

Tommy proudly brushed off the dust off his shoulders. "God, you know what? Lemme just show you how it's done. Time me." Maxell rolled his eyes whatever.

Tommy gets into his running position, getting ready on Maxell's call. "Mark."

"Set. Go."

Tommy zoomed crossed the room, picking up every book and placed into the shelf quickly but steady. Maxell could feel the strong wind that was swaying across the room, slightly pushing him in every direction.

After every book had been placed back into where it once was, although the order is somehow changed, he runs back towards where Maxell was. "So," he gasped for air soundlessly. "How did I go?" Maxell simply blinked at him and showed him 7 digit fingers. 7 seconds.

"Well knowing that you placed back approximately 34 books into the shelf, you shuttle-run back and forth with 34 books one at the time in a matter of 7 seconds."

"Oh? How about you cheat the number a bit?" The platinum-blonde walked closer to Maxell slowly, smirking closed towards his forehead. Maxell blushed and huffed for better air ventilation with hot breathing. But the platinum-blonde went even closer to the short boy's lips. His hands slithering around Maxell's right hip, pulling him closer to him. Maxell's hands placed on the platinum-blonde's chest, his head lowered, staring at those cherry dry lips of the taller, with their heartbeat, pulsing faster and faster.

Maxell's eyelids went heavy, blushing heavily with the thoughts. But then he got an idea. He used his free hand and pinch Tommy's lips extremely hard, just by using this thumb and index finger. The platinum-blonde moaned in dissatisfaction and pain from being pinched at the lips by the Homunculus. Maxell giggled at him while Tommy pouts.

Maxell ruffled the platinum-blonde hair and pecked at his forehead and his lips to ease the pain, smirking at Tommy with his lips still intact with the platinum-blondes'. His arm placed over Tommy's shoulders. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know. I like being a jerk, sometimes."

Maxell giggled softly to himself. "That explains you being the team's sociopath." Tommy glared at him for hearing that. How did he know? He grits his teeth in sudden anger. But Maxell wasn't afraid of that.

"And how do you know about that, bookworm?" the short boy chuckled to himself. He then left Tommy to decide who told him that, walking on his way towards the door with a grin on his face. The platinum-blonde then realized it and bellows "BILLY!"

* * *

><p><strong>Brotherly Reveal<strong>

"Why did you tell him that!" the platinum-blonde yelled at the raven-haired boy. Billy knows exactly what he was talking about. But he just kept quiet, whistled along and continued with his homework, tapping his feet like he is listening to music. Tommy got even_angrier_ and shakes Billy to tell him answers. "Tell me, asshole!"

Billy sighed and then eyed on the annoyed platinum-blonde. "Is it so bad to even tell him about you on that once in the while?"

"Once in a while? Kaplan, you are planning to tell him that again if he doesn't remember, aren't you?" Billy shrugged and crossed his arms; tapping his feet and twitching his right eyebrow at uneven rhythm. "Well?"

The raven-haired boy just rolled his eyes. "You're still the main asshole of the team. Don't deny. At least Maxell is okay with it." Billy shrugged again and Tommy just sighed heavily.

"Yeah, whatever."

Billy walked towards his twin brother and hugged him softly, rubbing his back. Tommy hugged him back, but held back his tears. Bad boys don't cry, he guessed. But when he's around with his own brother, maybe it's okay for him not to hold back his own tears.

"To be honest, it's okay to be an asshole, I guess," said Billy. "I mean, I can really tell you care for the team and all, and showing that you care is kinda not your ego, so I understand." Tommy sighed and hugged him tightly.

_I guess I can show this feeling to him and only him. We may not be blood brothers, but at least we're close like soul brothers. And I'm happy to know that he understands how I feel._

* * *

><p><strong>Interrogation: Fan Style<strong>

Cassie and Kate stared intently at Tommy, who was sitting across them at the dining table, tapping his fingers onto the table with his hand lying on his chin with his elbow on the table, waiting for them to say a word to him. It felt like an interrogation. Maybe it is. Tommy raised an eyebrow after a few minutes, still waiting to be shot at with a question by the girls.

"So…" Cassie started. "How did you know Maxell?" Tommy coughed slightly, upon hearing such a question to hear. Something he doesn't exactly wanted to talk about it yet. But since Cassie and Kate wanted to know about it, they will probably bug him until he'll spill it out to them anyway.

"I met him on the way back from grocery shopping," replied Tommy.

"We're asking how, not where," said Kate as she tapped the tables with her long nails. She doesn't get it, does she? She kept on blinking at him, trying to figure out how he could still be able to handle himself without having thoughts of Eli, her current fiancé and Tommy's ex-boyfriend.

"He bumped into me when he was running."

"Running from what or who?" this time, Cassie asked. Her eyes went wide in anticipation. She's enjoying this for once.

"I don't know, and I don't even wanna know," snapped Tommy. "In fact, it's his personal business. I don't want to intrude his about it."

"But what makes you even like him?" asked Kate. Tommy is full of surprises. But then he doesn't like spilling it at times. He likes giving them suspensions. But when he thought about it, they will still bother him, anyway. Furthermore, his reason why he did like him is rather weird, to his perspective.

He kept quiet on that question and fidgeted with his fingers, his eyes ignoring contact with the girls. Then he just blurted it out soft and slowly: "I like his eyes and highlights." The girls can't even hear him. So they went towards Tommy and asked him to say it out loud again, but as they were about to hear what Tommy said, in which he was about to say the exact same thing, Maxell and Billy were walking by them, talking about Kara No Kyoukai.

As the two boys saw both the girls being close to Tommy, the raven-haired boy asked: "What are you girls doing to him?"

"Maxell," Cassie asked as she pointed to Tommy. "What do you like about him?"

The short boy just blinked at her. That was sudden. He then eyed at Billy, who was looking at him back, expecting an answer about that. Even he wanted to know what Maxell liked about him. Everyone stared hard him, even Tommy. It felt like a huge pressure pushing Maxell's head down, whether to blush hard or even just act normal, walk off and pretend nothing had ever happened. But instead, he stared back at Tommy, trying to put words together to form a "perfectly _normal_" answer.

"His bad boy attitude and his annoying but cute face," he replied. Billy just placed his hands on his hips and stared at Maxell hard.

"So how annoyingly cute am I to you?" Billy asked. Maxell eyed back at him. Well they are twins, so Maxell understands that. Teddy walked in the entire sudden, hugging Billy hard from behind.

"Very annoying," Teddy replied as his face landed behind the back of Billy's head, smirking. Billy sighed and lets Teddy lead his boyfriend back into the room.

"Wow," said Cassie as she breaks the sudden silence. "How much did he hear?" Kate shrugged. "Well, we got our answers. We're tired, so we're gonna leave you guys here."

The girls then walk off to their respective bedrooms from the dining table, leaving only Maxell and Tommy in the dining room. Both stared at each other hard the entire time afterwards, never said a word, with their faces unchanged and unhappy.

"So that's what you liked about me?" the platinum-blonde asked. Maxell nodded softly, ignoring eye contacts with him and walked back into his own room. Tommy sighed and giggled to himself. "Guess I should piss him off more often."


	6. Chapter 5: Perception

**Homunculus**

**Rating****: T**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer<strong>**: I do not own Marvel, The Young Avengers, The Avengers or anything that are made from Marvel. I only own my OC, Maxell Joachim.**

**I also do not own the Sound of Music and even Dancer in the Dark.**

* * *

><p><strong>WARNING<strong>**: As far as I know, OCs is NOT what many people would like to have in a fanfic. So please, if you do NOT like OCs being the main attention, either you wait until I made another chapter that involves the rest of The Young Avengers or don't read it at all. You have been warned. Also, boy x boy, OC pairing with Marvel character, swearing, etc. etc.**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**: We are now entering Tommy's POV.**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously, on Homunculus…<strong>

"_We got a major issue," Tony said in a mass emotion of concern. This doesn't look good, from the looks of Tony. "We found out that the Corrupted can mass reproduce them."_

_(next scene)_

_He closed his eyes, relaxing his mind and tries to 'hallucinate'. As he opens his eyes, a new shape appeared: a triangle. He started glowing unintentionally when he saw that. "He's gonna blow up again…" groaned Eli._

"_Just like before," said Vision. "His DNA particles are dissolving."_

_(next scene)_

_The minute he is closed enough, he literally pounced towards the female Corrupted and vanished. The particles surrounded the Corrupted and she groaned and gargled in pain. Slowly she dissolved and then exploded into bits. A few meters away, Maxell reappeared, reforming back into his physical form. He gasped for air more roughly than normal. He felt the heat running through his veins. It felt like his own blood boils endlessly, like he's being boiled into a hot pot or something. This is probably his first time invading a body and combust it into smithereens. Tommy's eye widened._

_(next scene)_

_Their forehead bumped together, sharing their hot breath together. Their hands intertwined together. The atmosphere around them then went cold, but they never complained. Tommy chuckled and Maxell smiled softly. "So, you found someone to protect, this time around."_

"_I won't let go." Tommy's grip hardened._

"_I didn't plan on doing so," Maxell replied as a tear rolled down on his right cheek. But went up to look at Tommy smiled anyway._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Perception<strong>

* * *

><p>It was just 10am in the morning, and I became groggy as hell. The warm air around me, my face feeling all dirty, and becoming lazy to even get out of bed… yeah, it felt like a symptom alright.<p>

The sun blazed towards my eyes, telling me to wake up. I shifted myself so the sun won't glare at me. But then again, I'm already awake… sorta. I lifted myself up and went out of bed without having the need to use my superspeed. I walked all the way from my bedroom to the bathroom, getting myself a quick shower before having breakfast with the others.

After taking a shower, I wrapped myself with my towel and walked all the way back to my bedroom, change into my casual clothes and go back at the dining room and eat like a human being.

In the end, starting a day like this is boring and pathetic.

Cassie and Kate, as usual, talks about their own daily life on the table, whereas Jonas and Eli was wondering what else to play other than just Soul Calibur V _all the time_ (pretty much 3 days in the row now) and Teddy and Billy are pretty much talking about homework. Well, I'm just surprised that that's the only time I don't hear them planning on going on dates and stuff like that.

But then I realized something: where's Maxell?

I looked around the table and never saw him at all, just the gang without Maxell. Then I stand up and make way towards the kitchen. And there I see him, all messy and oily. He was cooking breakfast the entire time.

His eyes heavily concentrated on the pan, colors hinting purple in his eyes. His frame always gets in the way, but I can see it clearly enough anyway. His body posture made him look a bit feminine. But I guess he was just tired. His lips are pursed and pink. He's quite tan too.

I can still remember the time we ravished each other in that hot, heavy atmosphere that surrounds the both of us. Even though we didn't touch each other in those private places (like using our hands), I always wanted to touch him even more, and even to kiss those tender lips of his. But that's just beside the point. I mean, I don't even think he wanted _that_ yet. But I guess slow and steady wins the race. In this case, his own heart.

Yet, sometimes, when I think of it, it didn't felt realistic enough.

I never felt any true emotions of Maxell when we first met. He looked always troubled with his Past. He always looked quiet, but was never afraid to tell whatever necessary about his own life. He also kept everything to himself, making him like some lost child who is surrounded by strangers who he never met before.

Furthermore, his deep purple eyes always looked like he's about to break down and cry whenever possible, although I don't see him freak out that much. His eyes always looked like crystals, light reflecting at every angle. As he caught sight of me staring at him, he continued cooking whatever is in that pan. Silence brought up and a word was never said.

After he placed the food onto the plate, he walked off past me, his eyes looking at the dining table. My own head can't even turn back to look at him more, and it felt like my own physical body is being frozen in time.

While I stared blankly at almost nothing but the wall, Maxell called for me from the dining room. And then all of the sudden, Maxell tugged me by my arm and dragged me into a seat. As I sat down, a plate of three pancakes laid before me. "Eat," he whispered at my ear as he walked off towards the library with a different drink: coffee.

I stared contently at what he cooked for me: pancake, with melted chocolate. I sliced a part of the pancake and took it into my mouth. It tasted sweet and hot at the same time. After a few bites, I quickly finish up the pancake, licking the plates for left over leaking melted chocolate and then placed it into the kitchen.

* * *

><p>I walked towards the library, just to see Maxell, reading a book. Only one book. That's weird. He would've read a lot of random books in the library, actually. And his cup was left untouched as well. His eyes entirely attached to the book's content. His lips were mumbling as though he was reading the book to himself. And his eyes were half-lidded, almost at the brink of sleeping.<p>

"What are ya reading?"

Maxell's eyes were still attached to the book. "Alice in Wonderland." He yawned softly and continued reading. Then he eyed at me, his eyes calm and inviting. "What's on your mind?"

When I was about to ask him about his life back in Transylvania, Billy, out of nowhere, annoyingly entered and asked Maxell about what musical he wanted to watch. Of all questions, why does it have to be a musical-based? I just rubbed my temples and let it slip, for now.

But what surprises the both of us was his choice of musical: _Dancer in the Dark_. I, even Billy, don't even know what musical is that. Figures. I mean all Billy ever watched was just Glee and the Sound of Music, nothing else.

Me? I don't even watch musicals like what my twin would. I just find it annoying and rather depressing. You don't see people in love singing or dancing in the middle of the street or even at the subway. I mean, if I were to do that, I would be stupid as fuck like I would think unicorns would ever existed in my own fucking life as a speedster juvie, who had a crush with a boy who has potential to be an emo-goth. Although he doesn't dress like one, or even put make-up like one, he still is acting like one at times. He sure pisses me off, that's what. Yeah, both of them.

But still, I can admit that I loved him, no matter.

"Are they still selling that?" Billy asked Maxell. Maxell just stared hardly at Billy. I bet he would've thought like this: "You have got to be kidding me. I live in a fucking village. I knew Dancer in the Dark by the book." But I ain' gonna jump into conclusions and see how he reacted to that. Plus, I don't even think Dancer in the Dark has a book, either.

"What?"

Maxell just shook his head and walked off from his seat and went towards the kitchen, drinking his coffee (finally). Billy asked me about him being all that weird and stuff. I just shrugged and zipped off to my bedroom and lie down on my bed until the afternoons.

* * *

><p>In the afternoons, we always have training with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Although there are times that both of them argued with each other about Maxell at times, I guess Cap really gave Maxell a chance.<p>

Every time we went to training, I've always seen him using that weird sword that always appears out of nowhere. Laevateinn, as you would have called it. He waved his hands as though he is dancing, and swords started coming out of nowhere.

In target practice, he uses a sniper rifle. How he managed to hold a large, heavy sniper rifle, I wouldn't know. His accuracy pars with Kate, but he sure takes his time to aim at the target, especially the moving ones.

When it comes to physical training, Teddy and he always spar together. Maxell always uses his taekwondo skills. He never liked his hands dirty. Weird enough, his left hand always touch the ground, trying to make him balance with only one hand. Although he isn't that strong enough to hold for one hand, he managed to recover on his two feet quick enough.

But then after the training, he vanished. I can't find him anywhere in the training room. Either he went back into his room or continued to read that Alice book at the library. But then, when I checked both of the rooms, he's not there. God forbids what he was trying to do to himself. I mean, since his emotions are very… should I say unstable? Because as far as I've known him for only a few days, that doesn't mean he could put up with acts all the time.

Plus, he tends to drift away from reality and continued to mumble about his horrible past. It happened just yesterday, and he even continued that even during night time. It's always nightmares. Maybe both Billy and Maxell have something in common. Although I have to say Billy got used to it and Maxell is just feeling it.

What would Billy do when he got stressed up? He'd probably lock himself in his own room. But Maxell isn't in the room. Where could he be? Well, I would just push my luck and went into the roof.

The minute I stepped at the roof to see Maxell, there he has: standing in the middle of the roof, glowing dimly but you can see that he's glowing, even from afar. I slowly walked towards him, but he turned around with a glowing purple butterfly on his shoulders and a _handgun_ that was on his right hand, making him hold his Grimoire in his left.

"Maxell, what are you doing?"

His tears fell from his eyes down his cheek. He was crying. And then he started to raise his gun toward his head. _His own fucking head_. I panicked and yelled at him to stop. But he was already at the brink of pulling the trigger. I quickly use my hands to swift the wind to push the gun off his hands. The sound of the handgun dropping onto the floor made me cringe in fear. I mean, damn, either one of us is going to die by that, or neither. So I gonna take the safer side and say neither. But then he dropped his Grimoire and conjured another gun with his left. Great, here we go.

Well obviously, I did everything to stop him from conjuring the guns that he frequently conjures. It was _endless_. You could see many guns on the floor behind him. Many different kinds of guns, I have to say. It's scary. He could be a flipping terrorist. But I don't even wanna fucking think of him like that. Someone that is this close to me can't be a terrorist. I won't even let him be one.

The guns behind him continued to stack and stack. His eyes wide open, and his tears are still rolling down his cheeks. Then he started to feel very giddy and falls down from where he's standing. I quickly zoomed towards him to catch him. And I could hear is nothing but whimpers and sniffing: he was breaking down.

"Why… can't you just let me die?"

Why the fuck is he saying like that?

"I never did anything good for everyone. Even if I killed thousands of Corrupted, they will continue to come after me, to the point that their mutations are even possible."

I kept quiet to let him release his confessions and doubts. I hugged tightly onto him to make him feel more comfortable.

"I'm not even human. Not anymore. So what's the point of living?"

I always hated it when people talk like that. And I don't care if it came out of Maxell's mouth. But then I did something that was rather stupid, but worth it: I slapped him across the face. His hand covered his cheek, feeling the pain that rushed into his veins, leaving a mark on the face.

"You are alive. Even if you're not human, you still express your feelings. Why the fuck are you even talking like that? That is seriously not like you. And even if you are not human anymore, doesn't entirely mean that your point of living is valid. All you think of is death just because you're artificial!"

The pang of guilt pierced my chest. Maybe I overdid it. But someone has to knock his sense, right? The purple butterfly that was next him fluttered away until it disappeared. His eyes shows more hint of purple, becoming more visible. That is when Maxell fell towards me and fainted. But I let him sleep onto me for a long while.

It always makes me feel more comfortable about him sometimes. I mean…

I guess he understands how I feel about Eli, back in those days. Even now, I still had feelings for him. But I guess I don't mind being just friends with Eli, although I love to annoy him at times. I've always see Maxell 'reading' books in the library. But there's always a time and a book he always reads again and again.

There's also times when he laid his head on my lap, while reading sideways. When I'm always around, he always read it out softly and made himself to sleep on the lap. I pat his head as I doze off into my own sleeping dream.

* * *

><p>Around night time, I woke up. The moon glowing brightly as though it's like the Sun. I carried the sleeping damsel back into his room and let him sleep on his own, never to try to make any noises on the way back to his door, closing softly and letting him rest. As I turned, Kate saw me with her arms crossed.<p>

"So what happened to him?"

I kept quiet for only a few seconds. But then I looked up to her and told her that he's just feeling distressed and Maxell needed some time alone, even away from me. But I understand that. Slowly Kate hugged me to comfort me.

"You tried your very best to help him."

I can only nod and rested my head against her shoulders, letting her pat my back. I guess I wasn't ready to help him properly yet. But all I can say is that I can wait until the moment is right. Yeah… that's right. _I'll wait for him._

* * *

><p><strong>Next time, on Homunculus; Chapter 6: Close<strong>

_Both of us have a lot in common. Okay well, not really. I mean Maxell is like a nerd, just like me. Being shunned at, just like me. Being into musicals, that is totally like me. But what's so different between the both of us, is that Maxell has a lot worse childhood than what I have._

_(next scene)_

_I've always adored his powers of conjurations. He's like Green Lantern, to be exact, though his weapons don't have much of a color. We tend to spar a lot: using my lightning powers against his conjuration powers. We became pretty much battle buddies, along with Kate._

_(next scene)_

_I wanted Tommy to treat him a lot better, now that both of them have a relationship together. But all I can do is hope that both can make it through whatever it takes. Even if this Corrupted problem is all over._

* * *

><p><strong>Post AN: And there you have it: Chapter 5 within a day. I'm actually surprised. But what disappointed me the most is that this chapter doesn't have much content than the others. But I wanted this chapter to look as though it is a normal day for them, for once.**

**Also, Dancer in the Dark is one of the most unique musical I've ever watched in my entire life. Just watch the movie, you'll love it. Especially if you're a Bjork fan, in which I'll go in-depth on the next chapter.**

**Review if you really like it.**


	7. Chapter 6: Close

**Homunculus**

**Rating****: T**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer<strong>**: I do not own Marvel, The Young Avengers, The Avengers or anything that are made from Marvel. I only own my OC, Maxell Joachim.**

**I also do not own the Sound of Music and even Dancer in the Dark.**

**WARNING****: As far as I know, OCs is NOT what many people would like to have in a fanfic. So please, if you do NOT like OCs being the main attention, either you wait until I made another chapter that involves the rest of The Young Avengers or don't read it at all. You have been warned. Also, boy x boy, OC pairing with Marvel character, swearing, etc. etc.**

**IN ADDITION, THERE ARE SPOILERS WITHIN THIS CHAPTER. **

**NO, IT IS NOT FROM THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. IT IS FROM DANCER IN THE DARK.**

**IF YOU DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIE, I REALLY SUGGEST THAT YOU SHOULD SKIP SOME PARTS AND MOVE ON TO THE OTHERS. I KNOW THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE AS MUCH AS I DO, SO I UNDERSTAND.**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>**: Next, we're going to Billy's. Sorry for the delay.**

* * *

><p><strong>Previously, on Homunculus…<strong>

_The minute I stepped at the roof to see Maxell, there he has: standing in the middle of the roof, glowing dimly but you can see that he's glowing, even from afar. I slowly walked towards him, but he turned around with a glowing purple butterfly on his shoulders and a handgun that was on his right hand, making him hold his Grimoire in his left._

"_Maxell, what are you doing?"_

_(next scene)_

"_Why… can't you just let me die?"_

_Why the fuck is he saying like that?_

"_I never did anything good for everyone. Even if I killed thousands of Corrupted, they will continue to come after me, to the point that their mutations are even possible."_

_I kept quiet to let him release his confessions and doubts. I hugged tightly onto him to make him feel more comfortable._

"_I'm not even human. Not anymore. So what's the point of living?"_

_(next scene)_

"_You are alive. Even if you're not human, you still express your feelings. Why the fuck are you even talking like that? That is seriously not like you. And even if you are not human anymore, doesn't entirely mean that your point of living is valid. All you think of is death just because you're artificial!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Close<strong>

* * *

><p>For a boy who just happened to watch musicals such as I do, I'm actually surprised he watched <em>these <em>(yes, I'm referring to Dancer in the Dark) kind of musicals. It isn't a simple one like the Sound of Music, or even Mary Poppin for that matter. But the weird thing is the music. I don't quite understand it at all. The beat is all over the place, but you could feel lots of emotions in it.

That was when Maxell entered the living room and saw me connecting my laptop to the TV. And there he was; sitting with his legs and hands crossed, rather bored. His eyes were gazing towards my laptop, wondering what I was doing.

Now that I'm close to him, I could tell you the similarities between the both of us, in general.

Both of us have a lot in common. Okay well, not really. I mean Maxell is like a nerd, just like me. Being shunned at, just like me. Being into musicals, that is totally like me. But what's so different between the both of us, is that Maxell has a lot worse childhood than what I have.

He was homeschooled for the rest of his life. Ever since he found out about his mother's death, he went into chronic trauma. And what's even worse was that his father raped him like almost every week, or so he told me. He is also been bad-mouthed at by a lot of other villagers for being the son of the "devil" his father was being entitled by.

His childhood friend, the only friend that he knows outside of his own world, Alice Morrigan Freeland, died due to childhood cancer. Both of her parents committed suicide immediately after her death.

At the age of 17, right on his birthday, he was forced into being a Homunculus for his father's "Salvation" project that he claim that he could destroy all evil in the Universe. Apparently, it failed, and Maxell told me exactly what happened during the so-called ritual that he was in. _(please refer back to Chapter 4 to recall)_

I finished downloading the torrent of Dancer in the Dark and played the movie file. This looked nice.

It was about this Eastern woman in poverty who worked in a factory in the US. She also suffered hereditary degenerative disease that would make her go blind. She is also saving as much money as possible for the operation for her own son, so that way her own son won't go blind, just like his mother.

The story looked okay, but quite confusing. It almost felt like watching a Dogma documentary, and then all of the sudden, it became a musical. Then again, the story is so interesting in so many different ways. The variety of music and the flow of emotions are slowly gradually to change.

At one scene where the woman started singing, I glanced over to Maxell and he was already closing his eyes and his mouth was moving. I could barely hear him, but I can tell he was singing along with the song. Slowly, his voice could be heard well enough.

_I've seen it all, I have seen the trees,  
>I've seen the willow leaves dancing in the breeze<br>I've seen a man killed by his best friend,  
>And lives that were over before they were spent.<em>

Then Maxell sang a bit louder this time and slowly opened his eyes, showing that he knew this song back at his hometown. His eyebrows furrowed and his eyes ignoring away from the TV. His face already showed sadness, pretty much about his Past.

_I've seen what I was and I know what I'll be,  
>I've seen it all – there is no more to see.<em>

* * *

><p>On the next day, Cassie made waffles for the whole team. Sweet and all, just like my boyfriend. Speaking of which, I've always wondered how Tommy treated Maxell. Maybe like an asshole he usually is, but I guess that's his gesture on saying "I'm just caring about you guys, but I dunno how to put it in your words."<p>

Maxell was just eating his waffles slowly but normally at the same time. No sense of happiness or sadness. Just sheer nothing of his emotions. Like blank, white paper. That's it. He's always drifted into his own world. I've always saw that. It gives me the goosebumps on the vibe he unintentionally (well, from what I believed) released. But I'm just glad I'm not the only one who's getting it. I mean, even Kate feels it. It's like he's dangerous on the outside, but at the same time, weak on the inside. He looked lost, and his only answer is to fight his way through. If not, he'll start to panic and jump into conclusions.

I don't know whether if this is because of his powers or his Past. Because as much as I know his powers are linked with his emotions, just like me. But of course, I'm obviously stronger than him. But if you put it emotionally, he can lose control more easily than I am. His emotional vibe just keeps getting out of him and made him attack out of his feelings and not his instinct.

His Past is horrible, I can tell. And his powers can even prove it. And I don't want him to be just like my mom or even me. Not another Scarlet Witch. Nu-uh, no way.

I finished my food and asked the gang to watch Dancer in the Dark with me. Obviously, everyone gave me the "what?" look on their face, except Maxell, giving me his unhappy face. But I can't help it. That show is nice. Although I have to admit, Maxell do have his weird taste in musicals and I like it.

Although Cassie, Teddy, Maxell and surprisingly Tommy complied, Kate can't come because she's meeting up with her other friends later whereas Eli and Jonas were busy finding the next Corrupted.

Corrupted; one of the main reasons why Maxell ever existed in our lives. Even though Tommy was really sure to help him, we are still fighting for something we don't exactly understand. We understand that because of his father's failed "Salvation" project, the Corrupted existed from within his father. And they will do everything to get Maxell. But the point is this; why are they chasing Maxell? And why didn't they attack humans? Why only us? Too many questions unanswered.

Putting that thought aside, I played the movie file of Dancer in the Dark and let it play until the end. Teddy, as usual, was sleeping throughout the entire movie. Cassie weeps at certain points of the movie. Tommy, well again, surprisingly, kept his mouth shut and watches the whole musical, without complaining. Maxell, as usual, was watching while moving his fingers against my twin's hair, entwining them together. Cute.

And just after the movie, the alarm rang. "Guys, this is Eli. We need you at the laboratory, NOW."

* * *

><p>When the whole lot of us went into the laboratory, we saw the location of the Corrupted. Without hesitation, we changed into our uniforms and teleported to the coordination of the scene.<p>

When we reached the area, we only saw one Corrupted. But this Corrupted was entirely different than every other Corrupted we've encountered from the past few days. This Corrupted had a skirt looked like a bat wing, butterfly wing and feather wings, all into one. As she spreads out her wings, she looked like a Goddess. And she is floating with elegance, no sense of shame, horror or whatever. Plus, she is topless. I'm not surprised that she covered her breasts with only her arms crossed. Besides, not that I hate women's appearances, but the looks of oversized breasts makes me cringe.

Eli already started to toss his shurikens whereas Kate tries to get a clearer shot at her. Cassie went huge and tries to simply grab her. But the Corrupted sliced her hands with her own wings as she twirls around as if she's Ballerina on Air.

Teddy decided to go full assault on her with his wings coming out of his back and made chase towards her, and Tommy was moving his hands fast enough to destroy her six wings. Maxell decided to snipe the Corrupted down as he holds onto the heavy sniper rifle.

I've always adored his powers of conjurations. He's like Green Lantern, to be exact, though his weapons don't have much of a color. We tend to spar a lot: using my lightning powers against his conjuration powers. We became pretty much battle buddies, along with Kate.

Suddenly, the Corrupted's head glowed and discharged an energy ball at Teddy. Teddy then landed on the ground hard, but he was still conscious. I quickly ran towards him and try to mend his wounds. While I was at it, Tommy already combusted 4 of her wings, leaving 2 left, whereas Cassie gripped the Corrupted hard enough to prevent her from discharging another energy ball. All is left now is Maxell to shoot her dead and combust it entirely.

But as Maxell shot his bullet towards the Corrupted, it managed to ricochet the bullet towards Eli. Eli managed to block the bullet, as usual. "Watch it!"

This is where I know this is fishy. I quickly chanted the anti-shield spell as fast as I can. "I want the shield to be down; I want the shield to be down, I want the shield to be down, I want the shield to be down…"

Maxell took his aim again and shot the second bullet towards the Corrupted's head. The Corrupted then screamed as Cassie let go of her. As Maxell ran towards her, he started to glow and went into the Corrupted's body.

Her shrills were as almost identical to a banshee's. Though it's good enough she didn't start making the people around her deaf by her scream. Suddenly, she exploded into bits and Maxell reappeared, just like how he did back in those few days.

Maxell stood, with his legs shaking and his hand holding onto his own head. I guess going into monster's bodies and combusting it literally can be tiring. I'm just surprised Tommy could even combust them with ease and not Maxell. It's probably because his Homunculus powers consume his stamina too much. I can even sense his irregularities of his breathing as well. There's always a time I would just go up to him and tell him to take it easy. But I doubt that would happen since that's probably the only way to destroy those monsters.

* * *

><p>We walked back to the Stark Tower, with Teddy's arm wrapped behind my waist, bringing me closer to him as we walked. As I turned my head, I saw Maxell's arm around Tommy's, chaining their fingers together, walking slowly and enjoying the afternoon warmth. Maxell held onto his hem of his hoodie and his face, showing off his pearly whites, even though he wasn't exactly smiling <em>widely<em>.

I have never often seen how happy Tommy was, as happy as he was taking care of Molly, without the need to prank or joke around with us. You could feel the same vibe from him the same way as usual. You could even feel the warmth radiating around him with no sense of joking around or pranking others, just pure happiness to be with someone he'd really like.

I wanted Tommy to treat him a lot better, now that both of them have a relationship together. But all I can do is hope that both can make it through whatever it takes. Even if this Corrupted problem is all over.

As we reached the living room, we went back to our rooms, changing our clothes and then came back to watch Dancer in the Dark to resume watching. Once everyone was at the sofa, I clicked the play button on the screen and we watched where we left off.

We were getting at the final part of the movie where the lady was breaking down because of killing her own friend, who technically asked her to kill him with the gun in her hands. When she started singing the final song (in which I think she is), Maxell moved his lips, softly singing to himself as he closed his eyes.

_If living is seeing__  
><em>_I'm holding my breath__  
><em>_In wonder, I wonder__  
><em>_What happens next?__  
><em>_A new world__  
><em>_A new day to see_

As he finished that last line, he smiled, his eyes tearing up. He closed his eyes again, letting his tears to fall from his eyelids. He wiped them off using his wrists, and giggled. "That was my favorite."

The whole team jerked our heads back; we don't know if he is referring to the death of the character or the song itself. Either way, we stared at him in horror. Know what? I don't even wanna know. But at least we know he was satisfied to watch the entire movie. Actually, I wanted to watch it again, but it was already night time and we decided to sleep early.

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><p><strong>Next time, on Homunculus; Chapter 7: The Four of Us<strong>

_It didn't occur to me about how much I knew about Maxell. He is always silent when he's around me, not that he ever liked me in any ways. We only talked to each other during battle and nothing much. How the others got so close to him in a matter of few days surprises me, actually._

_(next scene)_

_He asked me a rather straight-forward question about how Billy and I had a relationship. Now let me tell you something that was really annoying, honestly; I don't like being asked about what's it like being a relationship with someone you like, the fact that your lover is of the same sex as you are. And as much as I don't mind bragging about it, I just don't like the point of repeating the same answer that almost everyone I've bumped into at school asking me that. Plus, it's always from the exact same person over and over again. It almost felt like that said person does not even listened to you and just asked you anyway for the sake of fitting in._

_(next scene)_

_Well I guess I do have more time for Billy, after Maxell entered our lives. Every now and then, Billy and I were in the bedroom, all fully for ourselves, not getting cock-blocked by Tommy at all or any other distractions. We were happily in love with each other, without any obstacles and only in our own world, and it felt great._

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><p><strong>Post AN: In all honesty, I never liked this chapter. I never did.**

**It felt like the same damn thing as the last chapter. Know this pattern?**

**One. Talk about Maxell.  
>Two. Talk about his ability.<br>Three. Talk about Maxell and Tommy's relationship in general.**

**But what can I say? I was lacking the sense of inspiration. Plus, I was doing a Dance Central smut fanfiction while I'm at it.**

**I'm just gonna pray hard I'm not doing the same pattern on the next chapter.**

**Oh, and quite a few things happened in this chapter, so I really have to apologize. Also, the delay of this chapter is ridiculous.**


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